The Realise trio spent a fantastic morning out last week with the staff and students of Britford and Odstock Primary Schools in Salisbury.
The two schools are merging and from September the new school will be known as Longford Primary; so to accompany the new name, a new logo was needed and this is where we came in. Due to Andrew’s strong links with the school, we were the ideal candidates for the task and we decided to use the creativity and imagination of the children to help us with the brief of re branding their new school.
We planned the session well and produced a range of resources to help us with our lesson. We had a few worries that our pitch would not be suitable, however the young scholars understood the task extremely well and they produced a wide range of ideas that were both original and imaginative.
Having the opportunity to organise and be a part of this event benefited us in many ways. Of course it was fantastic for the Realise team to have some time together away from the office, and spending time with the children was lots of fun, but there were other not so obvious benefits to be had. Whilst planning the session we had to go back to basics so to ensure that the pupils would understand the task. This process gave us a chance to stop and really think in detail about the design work we do. It gave us the opportunity to take a fresh look at our branding styles and how we can make them even better. It was important to us that the children understood the value of branding and why a company, school, business or establishment should take ownership of their ethos through effective corporate identity. We also wanted the pupils to recognize examples of good and not so good logos and what feeling or message a logo can reveal. Due to the importance of getting the planning just right, we had to think carefully about the questions we would be asking the pupils and in doing so, we realised that these were questions we need to hold onto and remember when working on our own projects.
Working with the pupils offered us an insight into the bright, imaginative world of young children. We saw that design isn’t necessarily complicated and there is a lot of fun to be had from it. We also saw that design is accessible to all, whatever your age!
