Y : Body, Mind & Spirit – YMCA
I was commissioned by the YMCA Fylde Coast to devise a visual identity for their Body, Mind & Spirit programme, funded by BBC Children in Need. It had to connect with and engage young people between 10-18 years. The challenge was to create a visual presence that positioned their programme as fun, vibrant and youthful. It also, needed to be professional to ensure it appealed to partner agencies such as schools and corporate donators.
Creative Direction, Branding and Design:
Paresh Shankar
I created a visual language that consisted of an engaging bold logo mark and combined it with a new character called ‘Y’ – An inspirational and motivational character that resonated with the core value of the programme. This character reflected the importance of good physical and emotional health wellbeing for children to allow them to grow into well-rounded adults. With a nod to the YMCA’s original logo mark, brand consistency was maintained. A blue and red colour palette was used, with the focus on physical exercise, mind-set, and transformation together with clean, professional and modern typography.
How could we empower and reinforce the learning’s from the lifestyle programme and enable the young people to develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them?
A range of active clothing was created that could sit along with their Nikes and serve as gentle reminder of what they learnt in the workshops/coaching sessions. Also, that they are part of something bigger – The YMCA experience and family!
“Paresh was recently commissioned by the YMCA to design a young person, friendly and memorable brand identity for a Children in Need, funded project. Firstly, Paresh really listened and took on board what we told him of our requirements and what we wanted from the visual language, going beyond the brief and also introducing strategy into the mix. The results were absolutely outstanding and we are over the moon with the end result. It’s instantly recognisable, clean and simple design that embodies the Body, Mind & Spirit Programme and the YMCA. Paresh's work met our needs to the letter and it’s been a pleasure to work with him. I would highly recommend him to anyone seeking design and branding services.”
- Nik Marsdin, Senior Manager, YMCA Flyde Coast
