ABOUT

Challenge
Founded 19 years ago, The Diana Award was set up to recognise and celebrate the positive change made by young people. Although the award element was still central to the charity’s operations, their horizons had expanded beyond this and they were struggling to communicate their broader vision to corporate interests and young people alike. Our task was to create a truly flexible system, capable of redefining the brand for a new era, inside and out.

Creative Idea
From the start, we knew our focus needed to be on Princess Diana herself, whose inherent charisma transcended all ages, borders and mediums - the same boundaries the brand itself would need to surmount. With our discovery of the quote: “Young people have the power to change the world” - a simple, yet highly effective summary of Princess Diana’s character and convictions - we had both our inspiration and our core idea: to imbue everything we created with the ambition of fostering change.

Creative Expression
From this we had our visual cue, a blend of the classic and the contemporary that ensured that the brand felt truly present: an enduring legacy, not a memorial. The logo was at the very heart of this, evolving from a flat, statuesque device into a depiction of Princess Diana that truly captured the essence of her as a person and in turn cast the charity in a new light. With our gravitas assured, we gave the brand an injection of vitality by contrasting this new icon with a vibrant palette, contemporary typography and youthful visual layout behaviour. The result was a brand re-energised: ready for the now and primed to inspire the future.