This design has a fresh vibrant feel to it that can be updated to reflect seasonal change - an important feature of working life at Kingswood. It's a bit of a shame that the photographs of the children are split on gender grounds, it would be nice to get a mixed shot.
The vector based design utilises calm natural colours, a feature that Rachel was keen to include over the ubiquitous primaries associated with children. It's a restful pallette but I just wonder if it's a little too flat and dull. It will be interesting to see how text and photographs work to lift it - I included the photographic image of the frog just by way of experimentation in this respect. My other concern with this design is just how cliched it is.
The nordic folk art design is a real wild card. I like it for its ornament and feel that it's close to the mark in terms of the great outdoors. The colour scheme is quite rich and earthy although I'm prepared to accept that some might find it a little formal/dowdy. I enjoyed playing with the type and found the development of multiple mood boards to be of great assistance.
My concerns with web design are that I don't fully understand the technical side of site construction (again) and I find it difficult to pursue an ideas based approach. My efforts always tend, in my eyes, to be style led. I also find it difficult to play with ideas on paper, I always need to involve the computer early on.
Meeting with Rachel over Christmas she did concede that it might be appropriate to think in terms of an all embracing identity, so I've been playing around with logotype ideas. They all play around with the notions of 'king' and 'wood' and incorporate crowns and trees into the type through various devices. Generally I think that those that contain both symbols are a little too fussy. I prefer the simplicity of the single idea unless the crown takes the place of the dot over the i. When it is removed from the double o trees it tends offer more breathing space to each idea and the design consequently works a little better. I think the Swiss Black font works quite well in this design, it offers the chunkiness that is required in order to manipulate the image whilst at the same time projecting a degree of informality that is inviting and warm.
