Y7 Summit 2021
January 2021 – Present
Amplifying the voice of the world’s youth.
Visual identity + Web + Graphics + Video
Summary
The Y7 is the official youth engagement group for the G7.
Since January 2021, I have been volunteering as the lead design consultant for the Y7.
In this role, I have been responsible for delivering a range of design materials in collaboration with senior staff at the Future Leaders Network and the Y7 ‘Implementation Taskforce’ – a team of young people working behind-the-scenes to make the Y7 happen.
What is the Y7?
Every year, the world’s 7 most advanced democracies send their leaders to meet at the G7 Summit.
In 2021, the G7 is being hosted by the UK, at Carbis Bay in Cornwall. So, this is a chance for the UK’s youth to champion the voice of young people all over the world.
In order to properly represent the views of their people, these leaders consult with six ‘Engagement Groups’.
The Y7 is the official Engagement Group for young people. This is how it works:
Visual identity design
Immediately after joining the taskforce in January 2021, I was asked to produce a visual identity for the Y7 this year. The Y7 has never had a unique visual identity of its own, so this was our chance to set a new standard.
Visual identity sketches
Stylescapes
The Y7 logo had already been designed by the Cabinet Office, and was set in stone. This meant that I could only control the elements that surrounded the logo, and not the logo itself.
I began by producing a set of three ‘Stylescapes’ – visual representations of a simple core idea.
Feedback
Based on the feedback I received from the first three stylescapes, I returned to the drawing board to find a core message that combined the ‘nautical’ elements of option 2 with the friendly and approachable style of option 1.
After some more research, I came across the concept of ‘International waters’ – a nautical no-man’s land that surrounds and unites us. I expanded this metaphor to create a message around unity, open discussion, collaboration, navigation and disruption.
Results
This stylescape was really well received by the Y7 team, and so it has become the visual identity for the Y7 2021. In fact, they liked it so much that the official Y7 slogan was modified to become “Making Waves for Future Generations”.
Applications
In the months that followed, I was asked to implement this visual identity across a range of Y7 touchpoints, including the website, social media pages, a range of PDF documents and more.
Video trailer
In the week preceding the Summit, I produced a video trailer to be shown at the opening of the Y7 Summit. It had two purposes: to bring ~500 Summit attendees up to speed on the activities of the Y7, and to inspire them to pay attention, take action and participate in the Summit.
Audio design
The music was very carefully chosen to create the right tone at the right time, and to finish on an inspiring and motivating note.
Also, voiceovers were collected from a variety of Y7 taskforce members in order to represent our values as a democratic organisation.
Infographics
In order to communicate a lot of complex information in as little time as possible, I chose an infographic style for the majority of the video visuals. This meant producing a large set of graphics, and animating them in order to convey more nuanced meaning.
The Communique
After 6 months of training, consultation and negotiation, the Y7 delegates write a Communique which contains their policy recommendations. This Communique is then shared with the world’s most influential political leaders at the G7 Summit in the hopes that it will persuade them to consider the priorities of the youth.
I worked very closely with the COO of the Future Leaders Network over a period of several weeks to design the Communique document ready for publishing. This required us to be incredibly thorough, and to carefully consider how the document would be interpreted.
User profiles
Typography options
Executive Summary page: Layout options
Policy track page: Layout options
Front cover options
The final Communique document
(work in progress)
Though the Y7 Summit has now concluded, this project is far from over. For the next 6 months, I will be working alongside the Y7 delegates to advocate for their policy recommendations, amplifying the voice of the world’s youth and holding our political leaders accountable.