Ochre
At the start of my 3rd and final year at Billy Blue College Design, I begun a class called Social Enterprise. The class revolved around creating a viable social enterprise. Which means creating a business that puts its profits towards a social cause. This class was relatively open-ended and self-directed, being an individual project that allowed us to decide which direction we’d take our social enterprise.
Over the next 2 months or so I built my solution, and the brand associated with it. This work led up to the creation of Ochre. Ochre is a stationary brand / social enterprise that looks to improve the education of aboriginal children. From my research I found that many aboriginal children fall behind in school because the current school system is structured quite differently than the learning environment of aboriginal children is. This leads to aboriginal children having to adapt to a new way of learning, which doesn’t allow them to digest what they’re being taught as effectively as some other children.
So Ochre sells stationary made of ethically and sustainably sourced materials, and uses the profits to send out a team of employees to different schools. This team then uses resources that Ochre have developed in conjunction with community members to inform teachers how they can adjust their teaching methods to best suit aboriginal children and all the other children in the class. This may involve re-structuring a lesson from completing a worksheet, to instead run through each question as a group and represent and discuss it visually. This structure would be more beneficial to aboriginal children as they often learn in their early years within a more group and community driven environment. So now you know what Ochre is and what Ochre does, let’s see the brand and delivery of Ochre.
logo
The Ochre logo is simple but effective. Ochre, as an object, is a natural clay pigment that’s often used in traditional aboriginal artwork. So Ochre is a very appropriate name, as Ochre looks to help transform the Australian classroom to better reflect a more traditional aboriginal method of teaching, without alienating any children, and doing the best by them in turns of education. The Ochre wordmark is in a hand-written, messy style that leans into the natural aspects of aboriginal art. The symbol in the logo is taken from an Aboriginal symbol meant to represent a person, thus the grouping / layering of this symbol represents a class.
coloured pencils
Above is the design for a 12 pack of Ochre coloured pencils. This package combines the dot painting style with the natural roots of aboriginal art, using simple dot patterns in the colours of the pencils themselves. The front of the package appeals to the primary audience of Ochre, children. A window on the front puts emphasis on the product itself, and the dot patterns demonstrate the quality of colour of these pencils.
The back of the package focuses on the secondary audience of Ochre, parents. This back panel focuses on the social good side of Ochre, which was detailed earlier. This text is brief but to the point, quickly informing the reader and directing them to the website, where they can learn more. These pencils are made of FSC timber. FSC timber is wood that has been certified to come from sustainable tree farms.
ruler
This ruler makes use of the colour fields art style. Although this design is simple, it represents an important facet of Ochre as a brand and business. This ruler isn’t necessarily just a ruler. By using these different aboriginal art styles, and introducing them into the classroom through our products, the business side of Ochre can also help reduce the dissonance that aboriginal children often feel between school and home, with their culture not being represented at school. The ruler is made with FSC timber and water-based inks.
pencil case
This cork pencil case features the rarrk art style. It makes use of a toned down, earthy colour palette, displaying an abstract, simple landscape with a sun beating down upon it. This product contrasts the styles and colour palettes of the previous products, demonstrating the potential of branding and design that Ochre holds. This potential is a result of the versatility and breadth of styles within aboriginal art.
team collateral
Seeing as the teams of people helping teachers adjust their teaching styles are representing Ochre, they will be wearing branded uniforms. The branded clothing is simple, with some references to the art styles that Ochre uses. These bits of collateral are purposefully simple, so that they don’t come off as trying to blatantly advertise the brand. This is important to avoid as Ochre is helping to tackle a sensitive subject, and appearing as though we’re trying to benefit of this problem would be inappropriate.