Giving Islington's children the space and freedom to play.
For over 35 years, Islington Play Association (IPA) has been working to improve children’s lives and life chances within the borough of Islington, and beyond. IPA believes that the ability of children to play is a litmus test for the quality of life for everyone.
We worked with IPA by redesigning their identity and digital presence to communicate the importance of play and the vital work that they continue to do.
Islington Play Association's previous website had become outdated. We proposed that we rebuild everything from the ground up and start afresh with a modern, user-friendly platform.
IPA also asked us to sharpen their existing logo, but it became clear that their existing brand would be difficult to develop into an effective digital presence. After conducting research we agreed that a new brand identity and website was the best way forward. Time for a slash and burn (with extreme) purpose!
The goals for the website and rebrand included:
Be it design for identity or web, we always complete through research about the organisation and their audience. This allows us to make design decisions based on evidence, rather than assumptions. The discovery phase for Islington Play Association influenced many of the decisions made during the design process, and allowed us to prioritise web content based on user needs. Because IPA were in the midst of delivering changes within the organisation, our research also helped them clarify how to communicate their purpose and mission going forward.
Although not originally part of the brief, we felt that in order to deliver a strong outcome, IPA's identity needed a refresh too. They agreed, and we developed a new brand based on the concept of colourful children’s scribbles. The typography was designed to highlight the word 'play’, as this is absolutely fundamental to what IPA do. The swooping lines have an inherent sense of fun.
Islington Play Association's mission is to provide spaces for children to play with total freedom, away from grown ups. The circles around each playground reflect each individual spaces, using their own unique colour scheme, whilst still belonging within IPA umbrella. It was vital that each playground had its own personality within the brand, as they are distinctive vibrant places.
As you can imagine, providing services for young people takes a lot of hard work, time and patience! So the website had to be easy and quick to use for staff, as well as reflecting IPA's purpose of providing the space and freedom to play to the audience.
We chose the popular open-source CMS Wordpress, as it's quick to update, cost effective in the long-term and has a lot of core features out of the box that IPA required. It provides a powerful flexible platform that can adapt with the organisation as they develop in future.
We developed the brand further into a bespoke Wordpress theme designed specifically to suit IPA's unique needs. We introduced colourful children’s illustrations and friendly patterns to add a sense of play, and used bold typography to showcase their achievements through testimonials and statistics.
The website includes:
“Thank you Wired Canvas. The new website and branding is getting excellent feedback and the process was easy, smooth and efficient. We have already recommended you to a number of other organisations that could do with your unique support and creative vision! Thanks again.”
Anita Grant, CEO
