U! Happy Events
the partner
U! Happy Events provides sustainable support and teaches values to marginalised children in the Philippines. It is a platform for sponsors and volunteers to reach out to beneficiaries through creative and meaningful activities. They organize volunteer events for "Us!"
The mission
Kuya (founder of the institution) and I met while I was working on a photography project about the living conditions of the children in Baseco. Our mutual interest in this cause led us to have a conversation over his activity and how I could provide further help, not as a photographer, but as a critical creative person to support his mission to help the children of the Philippines. During our conversation, I learned that with +12 years of experience helping children, U! Happy Events was dreaming of expanding its footprint by 2018, to strengthen its manpower, visibilty and audience engagement like other institutions such as Save the Children or UNICEF. Unfortunately, the U! Happy Events was lacking resources to highlight what could trigger such a change in their current model. I offered Kuya to review his current brand assets and communication system and eventually offered him to rejuvenate his brand in order to articulate a stronger visual message of engagement to the people.
*U!HappyEvents' current website
*U!HappyEvents with the Children
Challenges and objectives
The most important aspect of this mission was to keep the overall picture in mind. When an institution like UNICEF plays an international and corporate identity, I had to keep in mind the U! Happy Events identity had to stick to its human values: being close to the people and "helping the children". It had to "engage" the people, not "institutions". To do so, I dived into this project like a manchild, questioning myself and how the child in me would be emotionally triggered without having this message rejected by the adult in me, due to an excess of cuteness or a lack of professional conviction. I found creative inspiration in Comics, where heroes and situations typically comment on a real societal problem. I eventually decided to generate an identity that would empower people, not as volunteers "helping" children, but as Superheroes who have the power to make a change, big or small. I translated my concept into a brand new tagline to empower the people and the children, more than the people and "happy events" – which sounds quite ephemeral and seemingly has little impact compared to what is the actual vision of the institution. The visual signature conserved the iconic U! as a engaging key message, but has been transformed into an impactful icon in the style of the modern comic, to convey visual impact and awareness. The project today is still on-going and we aim to work side-by-side to create a stronger visual system and develop more efficient communication tools, including social media platforms and a new website.
See their current website
creative answer
