1. Rebranding the branded
Digital communication strategy for the Oswin Project –
an ex-offenders’ charity
more on: oswinproject.org.uk
HEI: Northumbria University
Course(s)/Research body: BA (hons) Interactive
Media Design
Main Partners: The Oswin Project
Funders: List funders
Place: Northumberland, United Kingdom
Keywords: education, job creation, small enterprise

2. The context
• In the UK 50% prisoners released
from prison will reoffend with a year
and 75% will do so with 9 years of
leaving prison*.
• The statistics are even worse for
offenders in youth custody with 75%
reoffending with a year of release*.
• The problem is on the increase with
prison populations having doubled in
the last 20 years*.
• 68% of prisoners leaving prison
reported that having a job would be
an important factor in stopping them
reoffending**.
• For 50% of vacancies employers are
likely to reject even those with the
most minor criminal convictions**.
MoJ Breaking the cycle; Effective punishment,
rehabilitation and sentencing of offenders.
December 2010 Green Paper (*)
Employment – DWP Research Report number
155 – 2001 (**)

3. Project Response…
The Oswin Project aims to give ex-offenders a second chance by training
them in a sort after trade, and importantly giving them real work.
In order to help raise awareness of the projects aims, encourage support
and engage with the wider community, students and staff at Northumbria
University worked with Trustees to help define their visual identity,
communication strategy and produce design collateral requirements.

4. Reverend Fiona Sample – Founder of the Oswin Project
• Motivation – Fiona has visited prisoners many time and heard
stories of no jobs or prospects when leaving prison. As a teacher
and educator too her motivation is to help break this cycle of re-
offending.
• Assets – Vision, motivation, funder raiser.
• Outcomes – A physical and virtual identity for the project, a website
for communication with stakeholders and the wider public. A
relationship with the University for future development

5. Trustees
• Motivation – To help bring the vision to
fruition. All have a strong ties to the
region and a moral sense of community
leadership.
• Assets – Personal motivation,
professional and community networks,
funder raisers.
• Outcomes – Design expertise to help
them visually validate their work and aid
communication

6. Ex-offenders – the ‘Oswinners’
• Motivation for the design aspect of the project: More awareness
of the project and better communication will enhance the
chances of continued employment through the project
• Assets – Individual case study contribution
• Outcomes – Increased self-esteem and better work prospects

7. Students
• Motivation – Part of course work; live brief; learn new
skills; contribution to portfolio
• Assets – Time, energy, creativity and relevant skills.
• Outcomes – New knowledge, enhanced skills, greater
awareness of the issue, experience of how design can
contribute to the resolution of a social issue or problem

8. Process
The design process for the client delivery and the learning experience
for the students had to be carefully integrated. The simplicity of
briefing and research, concept development, design protoyping and
presentation phases for both clients and students masked a much
more complex programme of learning.

9. Tools and methods…
• Orientation meetings to help scope out requirements and also
Q&A sessions with students to get them on-board
• Branding, Web Design and Social Media workshops with students
helped bring them up-to-speed with required tools and design
methods.
• Crit and feedback sessions with students and trustees to help
shape project outcomes.
• Onsite visits to the pilot project building site to see work at first
hand and share design work with the first ex-offenders.

10. Role of Design
Design played a traditional role in the process of social innovation.
The identity work helped visually establish the project is the eyes of
its stakeholders, the website provides a low cost communication
platform for the trustees to communicate with various audiences from
ex-offenders to potential sponsors.

11. Project output and impact:
• Visual identity system and associated design collateral
• Email and website for communication
• The collaboration itself became a news worthy item that raised
awareness of the project and the undergraduate programme.

12. Learning outcomes
• For the students, the live project gave them real-world learning
experience in order to test their newly acquired skills, but perhaps
more importantly gave them the first-hand experience and
personal reward of third sector work.
• For Northumbria University it met an institutional goal to engage
more with the region.
• For the course it continued an on-going interest in working with
third sector clients and created welcome publicity.
• For the trustees, they have an identity system and website that
they could not afford, and a relationship with Northumbria
University for future projects.

13. Successes and Shortcomings/ Barriers and Enablers
• The successes – design elements were delivered on time and to budget, the
students more than met their required learning outcomes, the Oswin Project
and Northumbria University have a closer working relationship.
• Design could have played an even greater role in the project’s ‘design’ from a
service perspective if Northumbria University been involved at an earlier stage.
• Few barriers other than running at the speed of the students’ own development.
• The great enablers were the trustees and the enthusiasm of the students, their
collective energy made this design project happen.