Activating Schools without Clichés

Launched at the end of February, Let's Move! Active Schools is a new initiative that will provide "simple steps and tools to help schools create active environments where students get 60 minutes of physical activity before, during and after the school day." Active Schools is part of Michelle Obama's larger Let's Move program and is being powered by Nike, which will invest over the course of five years "$50 million in the U.S. to increase the physical activity of kids in schools and communities as well as target advocacy efforts to inspire kids and draw additional resources to this important effort" as stated in this press release that lists the rest of the program's partners. Nike worked with Wolff Olins to create a new brand for Let's Move! Active Schools.

We were asked to help prepare the 'Let's Move' brand for its next step. The key to success was tapping into kids' psyche — they're the ones that need to embrace and get motivated by the brand. The target audience is 8-12 year olds, so we worked hard to avoid being 'child-like' and focused on being 'kid-powered'. Not teaching them, but getting them excited to take part.
— Wolff Olins blog post

This is a brand that's about doing it together. So kids don't feel being healthy is a chore, or something they have to toil away at on their own, we needed to show a healthy life can be simple and fun. It's dodging past your buddies on the court, chasing each other to the school gate, mixing it up on the kitchen surface, running, dribbling, stirring, chewing, swerving, bouncing, chopping, high-fiving. We captured that energy in the brand, creating something that can be broken into parts, played with, and joined up to represent a school, a community, a country.
— Wolff Olins blog post

Animated pattern.

Animated ticker type.

First Lady Michelle Obama at the launch of the campaign at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill., Feb. 28, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson).

To ease the transition back into non-flexible identities for the rest of the week, we have this semi-flexible identity to keep us entertained. It's hard not to like this. Mostly because of the good cause. But also because it's energetic, American — okay, I can see how some would not like this — and fun. More importantly, it's not your typical apple-means-helthy-kids logo — see main Let's Move logo — but a prompt-driven identity sparked by verbs (as seen in the type video) and by icons (as seen in the pattern). The combination is a perfect respite from all the branded character crap kids are exposed to every day and it's nice to see the Let's Move organization adopt an unexpected set of visuals and words. Execution-wise, this identity is simple and effective: the logo/pattern references the stars on the American flag and uses fairly random shapes that simply look good together and the typography is contemporary and kid-friendlier with the little flare of the "l". Having Nike behind it probably also means cool apparel and, although Wolff Olins' concept t-shirts are a little too artsy and abstract, you can see the real potential in the actual t-shirts produced in the pictures directly above. I'd wear that.