Design Challenge and Design Ideas

Every day, thousands of children and young people across Ireland are impacted by domestic violence and abuse. At least 1 in 4 children Barnardo’s works with have lived experienced of domestic violence and abuse. Our national campaign – KidsVsDomesticViolence – created for Barnardo’s aims to highlight and give these children an opportunity to tell their side of the story and for once….be listened to.
When working on the campaign brief, our primary consideration was how we could empower children and young people. The campaign was also a multi-agency collaboration with services from around Ireland. So we workshopped with the young people themselves, running exercises and creating ways that they could express themselves. So the campaign
idea was co-created with the voices of more than 74 children and young people who have lived with the impact of domestic violence and want to have their voices heard.

The campaign visuals are centred around the resounding message we heard from the Empower Kids Project, that children and young people are fighting to be heard. Fighting to be acknowledged by the media. Fighting to be protected by Politicians. Fighting to be understood by the public. There’s an irony and a level of discomfort to centring the campaign around ‘fighting’ but unfortunately that’s the reality that these children and young people face on a daily basis. The campaign was featured across social media channels and radio stations nationwide. It also includes a toolkit and postcards that empowers children and young people to communicate their own message in their own words.

How the brief was fulfilled

The execution was inspired by hand-made political banners, placards and manifesto posters. It centred around a strong bold typographic approach, composed of a series of words and statements that convey a sense of fighting spirit. Underpinned by a hashtag that will live beyond the campaign.
The campaign strongly features Barnardo’s brand font and colour palette which we dialled up a fraction for maximum impact across digital. We created a bespoke suite of emoji to emphasise the messaging – they were inspired by the workshop and survey responses of children and young people. These illustrated pictograms have been animated and give the campaign extra dynamism and energy. They also make up part of the toolkit, helping children and young people to articulate what they feel and want to say.