When you think of what an offender could be, you might picture prisons, bars, uniforms or handcuffs. In some cases, you may associate prisons with a sense of disorder, outcasts and hopelessness. Generally our perception of offenders in the UK is a blurry one.
That’s where we came in.
We are Anna and Natalie, 2 designers that wanted to help shift this perception.
Kahaila-Reflex support, nourish and celebrate the positive attitude these women in prison aim towards. In fact, when we caught up with Jo Hobson about the all of the work that goes on, the opposite assumptions came to mind. We found out about unique, bold personalities of the women they meet, and our existing opinions quickly changed.
Our rebrand focused on a fingerprint to represent each women's unique identity.
Fingerprints can have connotations with police stations and breaking the law. We flipped this negative link into a positive, making the fingerprint an integral part of the charity’s brand, something to be celebrated and used as a positive mark. We met a great young woman who Kahaila-Reflex worked with when she was in prison and continue to do so now she is back in the community and used her fingerprint to base the identity.
As well as creating the logo with the fingerprint, it's also used as a bold graphic device in Kahaila-Reflex communications. We wanted to not only represent the charity, but represent the offenders too. Bright colours were chosen, clashing with pastel tones. This reflects the combination of strong personalities in a vulnerable situation.
We wrote a manifesto that summarises the progressive work that Kahaila-Reflex do with each individual. Using language that has a strong and empowering tone was important to us, inspired by the ‘This Girl Can’ - Sport England campaign.
Kahaila-Reflex can't do the work it does without a strong community supporting the charity. The brand is something that not only reflects their work, but is an inclusive, impactful identity for supporters or newcomers.
If you'd like to find out more about the brand, get in touch. Or if you'd like to donate money to the life-changing work that Kahaila-Reflex do, click here.
Anna Barton & Natalie Hopson
