Hat-Trick Design unlocks the potential of the playground

The artwork will feature on posters, brochures and advertisements in a campaign, launching at the start of April, to raise the charity’s profile.

Hat-Trick Design was appointed in October 2009 after it was approached by the organisation. LTL was impressed by Hat-Trick’s work for urban youth charity Fairbridge, says LTL deputy chief executive Jenny Butterworth.

She says, ’We were looking to radically shift our work, from talking to teachers and schools to attracting support from the corporate sector. Hat-Trick Design had proved itself with previous similar work.’

LTL hopes to attract donors from a range of funding sectors, including children’s health and environmental, says Butterworth.

She adds, ’We wanted our cause to resonate with a broad audience. The artwork needed to talk to prospective patrons who aren’t switched on to school grounds by winning support for the concept of outdoor learning.’

Hat-Trick Design creative director Jim Sutherland says, ’The concept shows that school playgrounds can be magical, and not just dead, tarmacked areas. The statistics about outdoor spaces and child obesity are shocking, so we could have gone for something quite grim. Instead, we focused on the potential and produced something more uplifting.’

The artwork shows playful illustrations superimposed on top of typical urban playgrounds.

Hat-Trick Design was inspired by hopscotch markings when the designers visited schools, says Sutherland, who adds, ’There we saw the opportunity to take everyday images and insert something unexpected.’