Big Education Conversation

Big Change, already well-connected with adult stakeholders, needed to bridge the engagement gap with young people for the Big Education Conversation. The key question: how do we make civic participation feel accessible and appealing to a youth audience?

Research-Led Approach

Big Change facilitated consultation panels with young people to understand what drives and blocks their engagement. Their feedback was clear: they're put off by anything that feels official, governmental, or top-down. They're drawn to initiatives that feel informal, inclusive, and - crucially - shareable.

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Design Solution

The visual identity needed to counter institutional formality. We developed colourful, bold branding paired with imagery showcasing a diverse range of people. The aesthetic said "this is for you" rather than "this is from above."

Meeting Them Where They're At

The digital actions were designed around two core insights from the panels:

Shareability drives participation. Each action automatically generated a unique graphic based on visitor inputs - creating personal, shareable content that extended the conversation beyond the platform.

Familiarity reduces friction. We modelled interactive elements on interfaces young people already know. For example, one action used an emoji slider inspired by Instagram Stories - a small but significant design choice that made engagement feel intuitive rather than effortful.

This principle of "meeting them where they're at" informed every interaction. By designing within the visual and functional language young people already speak, we turned civic participation from a formal ask into a natural extension of their digital lives.

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