With no family, no stability and often no prospect of change, the 46,000 Australian kids in out-of-home care frequently face a downward trajectory. They’re 16 times more likely to enter the juvenile justice system than University, and achieve education scores up to 39% lower than their contemporaries.
You.Can.Be’s mission is to help as many of them as possible to find a way out. A way up. Through the support and stability of a quality school and education, and belonging to a community eager to share the privileges they bring.
We needed to create a brand that expressed the Academy’s mission - with a story and identity that was ownable and would cut through in the already crowded not for profit space.
To do this we drew on the personal experience of You.Can.Be’s co-founder Lanai Scarr to design a brand identity built on the idea of changing the path ahead for kids in foster care. We then developed a brand story and a set of key unifying messages that talked to our three distinct audiences - donors, students and schools.
Visually we referenced the foundation’s goals of offering education and belonging; we used the metaphor of an academic flag to convey the sense of change and progression that You.Can.Be offers to kids facing lifelong disadvantage.
The identity’s built-in momentum and flexibility meant we could crop, stretch and apply it across a range of print and digital collateral, data visualisations and marketing templates that seamlessly promoted the foundation’s mission.
You Can Be Academy launched at a Tech Council of Australia event, hosted at the National Gallery Australia, to an audience of politicians and high-net-worth individuals.
Co-founders from influential tech companies such as Canva and Atlassian, as well as prime minister Anthony Albanese were in attendance. The Academy’s brand story and identity caught the audience's attention. From this one event the Academy was able to kick start its fundraising efforts.
I see this work as a perfect example of design’s power to go far beyond purely the aesthetic. Our creative solution took an abstract thought and gave it shape, form and meaning, launching the brand into the world to make instant positive change.
With no family, no stability and often no prospect of change, the 46,000 Australian kids in out-of-home care frequently face a downward trajectory. They’re 16 times more likely to enter the juvenile justice system than University, and achieve education scores up to 39% lower than their contemporaries.
You.Can.Be’s mission is to help as many of them as possible to find a way out. A way up. Through the support and stability of a quality school and education, and belonging to a community eager to share the privileges they bring.
We needed to create a brand that expressed the Academy’s mission - with a story and identity that was ownable and would cut through in the already crowded not for profit space.
To do this we drew on the personal experience of You.Can.Be’s co-founder Lanai Scarr to design a brand identity built on the idea of changing the path ahead for kids in foster care. We then developed a brand story and a set of key unifying messages that talked to our three distinct audiences - donors, students and schools.
Visually we referenced the foundation’s goals of offering education and belonging; we used the metaphor of an academic flag to convey the sense of change and progression that You.Can.Be offers to kids facing lifelong disadvantage.
The identity’s built-in momentum and flexibility meant we could crop, stretch and apply it across a range of print and digital collateral, data visualisations and marketing templates that seamlessly promoted the foundation’s mission.
You Can Be Academy launched at a Tech Council of Australia event, hosted at the National Gallery Australia, to an audience of politicians and high-net-worth individuals.
Co-founders from influential tech companies such as Canva and Atlassian, as well as prime minister Anthony Albanese were in attendance. The Academy’s brand story and identity caught the audience's attention. From this one event the Academy was able to kick start its fundraising efforts.
I see this work as a perfect example of design’s power to go far beyond purely the aesthetic. Our creative solution took an abstract thought and gave it shape, form and meaning, launching the brand into the world to make instant positive change.
