Stafford and
Rural Homes

 

Client

A housing association keen to spread its wings and re-shape its identity following transfer in 2006.

 

Brief

Stafford and Rural Homes (SARH) needed to produce a corporate plan that would help position the organisation effectively and convey its substantial progress over the first two years of existence. The association was due to be inspected by independent watchdog the Audit Commission in July 2008 - so timing was critical. This was exacerbated by the relative youth of the organisation; usually associations have a longer settling-in period before being subjected to scrutiny.

Activity

We worked with the client to develop a number of concepts.

The design of the document was fundamental to achieving a cohesive, easily-digestible result. SARH wanted to convey its youthful, vibrant style and make what is essentially a formal, ‘dry’ document fun and easy to read - without alienating an audience of regulators, politicians, funders and peers.

To strike this balance, TBG’s design studio produced a series of hand-drawn illustrations conveying a journey that’s progressing with ever-increasing speed and sophistication; it begins with someone running in 2008, then moving to a bicycle in 2009, a car in 2010 and a high-speed train in 2011, the final year of the plan.

The illustrations are simple - using stick people in a variety of street scenes - but there are a range of subtle contextual references intended specifically for the expert audience. (For example, a page referring to regulation includes a traffic scene with three green lights; this alludes to sector regulation which awards three green lights as the equivalent of an ‘all clear’ for governance.) The spreads also include ‘stories within the story’ - such as a child flying a kite in one scene, only to get it stuck in a tree later. This approach adds interest, lightens the plan tone and makes it accessible to a wider audience.

Outcome

A joint entry to the Communications in Business Central Awards 2008 saw us win a Certificate of Merit for the corporate plan in the best ‘specialist’ publication category. Customer feedback has also been strong.

 

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