WINNER
Magic Canvas
by Magpie Studio, for Magic Canvas
Using art therapy techniques, Magic Canvas helps children who've had a traumatic start to life find the words to describe how they feel. Magpie’s identity for the platform looked to eschew the “academic descriptions and earnest headshots” usually associated with child psychotherapy and challenge the preconception of psychotherapy being clinical and inaccessible.
“We started with a simple idea – just draw how you feel – and created a brand that encourages children to make a mess,” says Magpie. The designs use a palette of Crayola-like colours, expressive illustrations, unpretentious typography and a warm tone of voice.
The brand had to be age-appropriate, balancing playfulness and professionalism to inspire trust in primary carers, and set the tone for sessions that encourage children to “open up, interact, and express themselves,” says Magpie. The studio also built a complete therapy toolkit including rubber stamps, workbooks and interactive card games to encourage discussion in sessions, and downloadable resources to keep the conversation going afterwards.
“From the outset, Magic Canvas didn't have KPIs or ambitious commercial objectives. The aim was to challenge industry norms, and take some of the fear out of therapy – making a daunting experience more accessible and friendly,” says Magpie.
The judges said: “The subject matter is a really tough one to get right but the calm and gentle tone that the illustrations give off fit the brief perfectly. It’s a really great idea, perfectly executed.”
KinderCare
by Design Bridge, for KinderCare
KinderCare is America's leading private childcare and early education provider, and Design Bridge's New York studio was tasked with crafting a new visual identity delivering on its "Confidence for Life" positioning.
The branding looks to create a distinctive and emotional narrative that captures the brand’s values and resonates with broad audiences including teachers, children and their families.
The illustrations aimed to demonstrate the discovery and joy of a child's development, so the agency “enlisted the help of our resident Design Bridge kids” for a live painting session. The team created a playful system based around the shapes that make up KinderCare's bell tower logo, which are used alongside free-hand marker pen lines that look to make the assets more approachable and less corporate.
Five simple geometric building block shapes were designed that can be stamped together to create “impactful, ownable imagery, whether in illustration, photography or real life,” says Design Bridge. The illustrations were designed to be used by KinderCare's in-house creative team, centre staff and kids in future.
Fill Refill Illustrations
by Fill Refill
As the name suggests, the Fill Refill Co is all about “filling… and refilling”, according to its founders. It was the first brand to offer a closed-loop national doorstep return-for-refill service. In branding the company, the team wanted to eschew the insincere “greenwashing” visual language it had found elsewhere in the category. Fill Refill Co approached friend and illustrator Eleonora Marton to create a series of illustrations for this purpose.
The pieces are “simple, bold and imperfect”. This reflects Fill Refill Co’s offering itself, according to the brand. Marton’s illustrations are deliberately lo-fi – having been drawn by hand using brush and ink – but are still designed to evoke the feeling that this is what the future will look like. According to the brand, her work has allowed them to compete with major brands in an increasingly crowded sector, and this is still only the beginning.
Robinhood Brand Illustration
by Collins, for Robinhood
Founded in 2013, Robinhood is an investment brokerage built on the philosophy that “everyone – not just the affluent – should have clear, accessible pathways to wealth creation,” according to Collins, which created new branding for the company that aimed to help make finance “more engaging and understandable.” The consultancy was brought in to redefine Robinhood’s brand expression in partnership with internal teams as the brand began introducing new offerings and entering new markets.
Collins sought inspiration by visiting a variety of “future-facing leaders” from self-driving car makers, to video game and animation studios and urban planners.
Imaginative illustrations and information graphics aim to be both evocative and instructional. Visual metaphors translate complicated topics such as ETFs, Fractional Shares and the American Dream into relatable concepts.
Illustration for Rebrands
shortlisted
Illustration for Rebrands