Digital Careers
THE PROJECT
Digital Careers is a $6.5m federally funded project to increase the number and quality of ICT graduates in Australia while building a robust and sustainable ICT capability for the future digital economy. Operating as a collaborative initiative of industry, research, primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions (universities and TAFE), and government, Digital Careers is focused on reducing the critical shortage of Australian ICT professionals by raising awareness and interest in ICT careers; and growing and diversifying the pool of tertiary students preparing for a career in the ICT industry.
As the organisation was only formed at the end of 2013, they required the development of a corporate identity, and for this to be rolled out across multiple collateral — both online and offline. The process started with a half day creative workshop with key stakeholders to discuss organisational objectives, brand values, and define target personas, as well as explore brand voice, the brand landscape, any cultural sensitivities/potential barriers to engagement etc.
Various brands were then developed exploring different organisation names, positioning statements and logos.
Once the internal stakeholders had agreed on, we were required to present the new brand to a wider group of stakeholders via a webinar on which approximately 20 people from around the country were online for, including representatives from many of the country’s top tech companies and Government bodies. The brand was then rolled out a mobile responsive website, all social media channels, signage, corporate clothing, and we now proactively manage the organisation’s digital marketing affairs and brand management.
CONSIDERATIONS
– Multiple stakeholders to appease — the organisation has a governing committee with representatives from Government, industry and industry associations, all with different views on what the corporate identity could/should be from everything from the selecton of name to the look and feel of the final design
– A diverse target market — The organisation runs programs targeting different aspects of the ICT sector including teachers, parents, students, Government, career advisors and industry. The brand had to appeal to all of these.
– The right message — The logo could not feature anything too ‘cliche€’ which could date quickly i.e. ADSL cables were used a lot once but are now very out of date when it is all about wifi!
– The right selection of colour — we felt the final selection needed to experiment with the use of colours / mosaics coming together and should not look at all ‘corporate’ as this would not appeal to the target market segments.
– The brand needed movement as it is about ‘going places’ with their career / choice / options
– We suggested the designer experiment with the use of pixels given most ICT careers involve an interaction with screens and therefore pixels – The design needed to look modern, and ‘live on’ for some time i.e. not date quickly and not be too design fad driven
APPROACH
– The name of the organisation was workshopped at a 3 hour creative think tank with a small group of internal stakeholders i.e. staff, settling on ‘Digital Careers’. – A range of positioning statements were explored
– The brand concepts were presented to the wider stakeholder group via a webinar. Approximatey 15 people patched in from various locations around Australia. – Feedback on the brand concepts was also solicited via email, and responded to
– A detailed brief was put together for the designed incorporating all of the stakeholder feedback – 5 concepts were honed down to 3 and then a final selection made