Challenge
Artis was founded in 2004 as a social business with a powerful mission: to bring the power of creativity to children across the country at a time when creativity and the arts were being pushed out of learning.
A charity since 2017, Artis has helped thousands of school children flourish each week through creative learning experiences. Data from Pro Bono Economics validating the societal impact of their work together with successful online delivery during the pandemic had given Artis the opportunity to accelerate and extend their impact.
Artis’ ambition is to reach schools across the UK and beyond by creating a bespoke ‘creative learning’ digital platform. With funding required to do this and grow, Artis needs to be better understood, more visible and more compelling to funders given the competition for support in the arts sector.
We changed their positioning and gave them a brand new visual identity – to shift perceptions from Artis being an arts charity to a creative learning charity.
Idea
“The creative learning specialists.”
We clarified Artis’ purpose by working closely together with the Artis team and becoming fully immersed in their world — joining primary school sessions with the children and specialist performers, and speaking with children, teachers, and headteachers.
We aligned Artis leadership, specialists, and wider stakeholders around the new purpose, “To nurture creativity in every child, everywhere and shape a thriving society”. This statement represents Artis' reason for existence, and the wider impact they have on society. To make this tangible for funders, we then aligned this purpose to the UN Sustainable Development Goals – clarifying Artis’ direct and indirect impact for future funders and schools.
The purpose unlocked a new brand positioning to clarify Artis are ‘The creative learning specialists’. This allows them to speak with confidence and stand out in a competitive world for funding.
With the new positioning for the brand and the new identity, Artis has been able to present itself in a different way which can appeal to more funders, to more schools, and ultimately have much greater impact.Paul Donovan
Artis Patron
The ripple effect
We translated this idea into a new identity system based on the positive ripple effect Artis creates through their sessions, engaging every child, everywhere. The pebble shape of the logo symbolizes the fact that every child is different and represents a safe learning space for children to be creative and express themselves. The A breaks the edge of the symbol, creating an opening, an invitation into the creative learning space. Pebbles, of course, when dropped in water create ripples. Artis is seen as the flow of water that helps children discover their shape and place in the world.
Brandpie helped us center into a phrase that ‘We are the creative learning specialists', which we have embedded in how we express ourselves throughout everything we do. It makes decision making really, really fast.Rebecca Boyle Suh
Co-Founder, Artis
Brandpie Foundation