Client: BRITISH COUNCIL
Project: Innovating in the way children learn
Category: Learning / Visual
Keywords: Art Direction, brand identity, circular economy, design, Entornos de aprendizaje, Madrid

The challenge

The British Council School, a globally renowned educational institution, wanted to launch a program for families with babies and toddlers aged between 14 and 36 months to encourage bilingual education through experimentation and play in a language-rich environment.

Studio Banana was commissioned to design the Bilingual Baby Club’s visual identity according to the values of this groundbreaking learning program while integrating the branding of an 80-years-old institution.

The outcome

A whole new language addressing the intersection of the British Council’s values – Resilience, Loyalty, Caring, Challenge and Flexibility – and Bilingual Baby Club’s aim. A long-standing relationship originally-initiated with the definition of their visual identity and typographic universe and continued with the development of a whole range of educational materials, from brochures and merchandising, to an animated video explaining the program on digital platforms.

Our recent addition includes a learning kit for the Bilingual Baby Club –a cutting-edge educational concept encouraging family learning, collaboration and the transmission of knowledge through play that has been produced following some of the principles of the circular economy.

Ideation & design

BBC: the Club for Bilingual Babies of British Council

The Bilingual Baby Club is a learning program launched in 2016 to create opportunities for parents and carers of children from 14 to 36 months of age. Their carefully designed space hosts various stimulating and fun activities in English for parents to enjoy with their children under the guidance of a specialized teaching staff.

As long as babies and toddlers develop their language skills, adults become more confident at leading their child’s learning through play, and witness the first steps in their child’s social and communicative development.

An engaging visual design system

The typographic universe is formed by basic, simple, flexible and colourful pieces inspired by the toys and made of circles, squares, triangles and holes that babies love to play with. The bespoke visual system reinforces the idea of infancy avoiding trite graphic resources and providing a patina of timeless modernness while allowing the construction of a complete coherent and consistent system of forms, icons and illustrations.

An innovative welcome pack

The multisensory, inclusive and sustainable kit seeks to promote learning through play while preserving the existing graphic identity and disseminating its pedagogical values based on the experience, interaction and innovation.

After a long process analysing and testing the way toddlers play but also contemplating their parent’s needs, we designed an ingenious pack enticing the entire family to participate into children’s learning through movement, imagination and the use of various senses.

Encouraging multiple ways of learning

Within die-cut packaging adapted to children’s play, the box incorporates a series of geometric figures and wool puppets encouraging role-playing games and knowledge-sharing between parents and children. The kit is also designed to enhance sensory learning by introducing elements that can be touched and smelled.

Combining craftsmanship, inclusion and circularity

The kit –made of raw materials like wood, rubber, and warm matte- coloured paint and crafted by local artisans and collaborators with diverse abilities– also embraces those circular economy principles focused on championing traditional craft, proximity products and social inclusion.

Conclusion

Designing a smart and innovative visual universe aligned with the values of a consolidated institution was a unique opportunity to help consolidate the BBC position in the path towards the future of bilingual education.

The Bilingual Baby Club program not only responds to the evolving needs of these young students, but also offers adults the chance to support their children in a bespoke journey of learning and discovery full of stimuli turning the activity as intuitive as fun.