The Brief

(Given by John Grant to students at the LCC)

WALK TO LEARN: THE BRIEF

This project is to produce a campaign of educational and inspiring materials to encourage people to walk more with their children.

This will be good for the planet in a number of ways: reducing the use of cars for local journeys, getting away from a generation of 'goldfish bowl' children who see the world through a car window, it's also good for health, a sense of community and for family relationships.

The campaign will go under the heading 'walk to learn' (an inversion of learn to walk). One part of the brief is to design a graphic identity (logo) which cleverly encapsulates this concept into a recognissnle and accessible icon. It might be better as W2L? I'm open to suggestions.

The idea is to tap into parents natural concerns to see their children develop, and to participate in that. The campaign will focus in particular on primary school children (5-11) but this is not a strict definition and some younger and older concepts might be interesting. For instance what if the dreaded sex education talk at 12 were the subject of a walk?

Walking and learning link well. It is a space in which you simply talk - perhaps stimulated by what you see around you - as opposed to 'talking about' within activities like play, feeding and bedtime. Plato's Academy took place in a garden (the word academy means garden), and many of their discussions took place on walks. There is a move within modern education back to learning outdoors, recognising the value of experience as well as abstract concepts.

Walking can be perfunctory and rushed and a key role for our campaign is to enrich the experience, encourage people to savour (like slow food) rather than rush it. Walking is a space for questions, explanations, freeform enquiry. In my walks with my 5 year old we have talked about why shadows are long, why adults eat (if they have stopped growing), why grandpa isn't around any more, why squirrels collect nuts, why cats are shy.

The potential is for materials which stimulate these enquiries. Contact with nature is vital to brain development in childhood, perhaps the basis of all our classificatory systems: learning to recognise different types of bird, insects, trees and so on. But children are facinated more than anything at this (latency period) age with the workings of the social world. And there are quite political topics of race, crime, gender and so on.

Part of the brief is to choose great topics. If some are a little startling and less expected that would help with PR. But think about authentic fascinations: the guardian wall charts could be one source of inspiration for 'the kind of thing'. An overall guide might be the facination of everyday life. But there are no limits beyond basic standards of age-approriateness and public sensibilities.

The intention is to present the winning concepts to a consortium of brands who have indicated they would like to support a campaign encouraging walking with children: Clarks shoes, Puffin books, innocent, The Guardian, John Lewis, the ecologist, HSBC and others. Whether the brands do adopt the campaign will depend on the ideas, but the initial interest is there.

Consideration should be given to the format and materials. If this were a giveaway pamphlet, map or wallchart to be distributed by a brand, how would it work best for the user, the sponsor and the planet? How can these be interactive, stimulating and fun?