Studio Texture was approached by Speech and Language UK (formerly I CAN) to shape a new name, brand strategy and identity, and refreshed website. This was part of the charity’s wider ambition to reach more of the 1.7 million children* who have challenges with talking and understanding words. Particularly in the aftermath of the COVID pandemic lockdown.

Following consultation with professionals and families of children with speech and language challenges, the charity recognised the need for a name to better reflect the work they do.

Through an audience research process, collaborating with Breathe Research, we discovered a more descriptive name would help families, young people and educational professionals find the charity when they needed them.

The new brand strategy positions itself around a cause message, describing learning to talk and understand words feeling like “an impossible hurdle” and that for young people “without the right help this can destroy their world”. A new vision states that “every child who is facing challenges with talking and understanding words, can look to the future with confidence.”

A positive identity expression, including new logo, is inspired by the idea that visual tools can often be a helpful aid to communicate complex emotions.

A playful twist of speech bubbles adapted to make faces, provide the opportunity to convey these different emotions, for different contexts, across the brand.

They bring a lively and fun dimension to an identity that is also able to capture the seriousness and weight of the challenges facing the young people who are impacted.

This sentiment is also seen in the choice of colours, which can flex from light and bright, to heavy and heartfelt. Typography too, delivers contrast by having the simplicity of a weighty sans serif, and the seriousness of a serif.

The elements combine to create an identity framework that has the flex to communicate to a range of emotions, to a range of audiences, but does so in a way that feels cohesive and unified.

*In June 2022, Speech and Language UK commissioned a poll of over 1,000 teachers to uncover the impact the pandemic had on children’s ability to talk and understand words. Teachers told them that the Government wasn’t providing enough support for children in this area and they now estimate as many as 1.7 million children are now at risk of not being able to talk or understand words at an age-appropriate level.  

The 1.7 million figure was calculated by using mid-point analysis of a YouGov survey of 1,000 teachers in June 2022 asking “Approximately, what percentage of your class(es) do you think are behind with either their speaking or understanding language?” Calculated to be 18% of pupils. Teacher estimates of the percentage of children affected were subjected to a mid-point interval analysis. Using a pupil population estimate of England, Scotland and Wales of 9,190,799 primary and secondary pupils, this now equates to 1.7 million children.