Swanswell

Swanswell Trust is a drug and alcohol rehabilitation service based across the Midlands. When the trust approached us with their chosen name, we were a little unsure at first until we began to see that the ‘well’ at the end of the word could be of use. Various typographic experiments followed, before the discovery that a piece of paper, crumpled at one end, could act as a suitable metaphor for someone’s life smoothing itself out. We agreed with the client that it would be best if there were several different versions of the logo, so we’ve decided on six. We have also developed a family of useful words and phrases that can be used as headlines and copy for posters and leaflets. Each employee receives a small book of one colour cards; when they want to give out a card, they remove one from the pad, scrunch one end, then hand over a carefully crumpled business card, a physical demonstration of their logo (and service) firsthand. Another part of the scheme is a suite of photos that we’ve taken of crumpled family situations. Drug and alcohol dependence places great pressure on families and relationships, so we decided it would be useful to have images like these, for certain applications (although we have to use them with care).