Winning Design for the Healthy Young Minds Logo Competition
Introduction: The 2024 Healthy Young Minds Logo Competition aimed to find a logo that encapsulates the spirit of the Healthy Young Minds service. With over 140 entries from pupils from Cheshire East schools, the competition showcased the incredible talent of young people in the area.
Background: Organised by CVSCE, working in partnership with Cheshire East Council, the competition sought a logo that would represent the ethos of the new Healthy Young Minds Service, which delivers both services to children and young people and establishes a Health Young Minds Alliance in Cheshire East. The judging panel was made up entirely from Cheshire East young people from the Youth Council, UTOPIA LGBTQ+ group and Just Drop In (one of three Healthy Young Minds service providers supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing, with Visyon and CVS CE being the other two providers) who evaluated the designs - based on creativity, relevance, and impact.
The Challenge: Participants were tasked with creating a logo that would resonate with both young people and professionals supporting the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Cheshire East, which conveyed the themes of thriving, resilience and support. The logo also needed to be versatile for use across various media.
The Winning Design: Hanna a young person from The Macclesfield Academy, created a logo that stood out for its simplicity and powerful symbolism. The design features supportive hands, a rainbow, depicting diversity and inclusivity and powerful wording, in keeping with the ethos of Healthy Young Minds.
Hanna said “When I was designing the logo I was thinking what my school would spend the money on if I won, and how it would help others. The ideas behind my logo were the hands to show the support you need, the vines to show how everything is linked together to help and the rainbow to show diversity. Seeing my logo digitally for the first time I felt really proud of myself and still couldn't believe I had won the competition.”
Hanna’s Mum Gemma Said “Hanna's dad and I were so pleased when we found out Hanna had won the logo competition out of 147 entries and were full of pride. Art has always been one of Hanna's favourite hobbies to unwind and relax with. Hanna is very creative, and we definitely think she has a future doing something that involves art or design.”
Hanna received a trophy and certificate and was actively involved in working with a design team to digitise her design and her school The Macclesfield Academy received £500 to be used towards school wellbeing materials. The Macclesfield Academy were delighted to win the competition.
Mat Galvin, Headteacher said "when we found out, two members of staff ran into my office to tell me how well Hanna had done. We then went to find her to celebrate together! Mental health continues to be a hot topic for all schools and we're no different. Getting it right is essential for our whole community, be that students or staff."
Impact and Results: The winning logo received widespread support from young people and a wide range of professionals supporting young people’s mental health and wellbeing in Cheshire East from both the education, voluntary and health sector.
According to Hannah Gayle, Project Manager at Cheshire East Council’s Thriving and Prevention, Integrated Commissioning Team (who commissioned the five-year Healthy Young Minds service) "The logo perfectly captures our vision for the service and has significantly boosted awareness and visibility of Healthy Young Minds"
Conclusion: The 2024 Healthy Young Minds Logo Competition not only highlighted the exceptional talent of young people in Cheshire East but also provided a platform for raising awareness of the support available to young people for their positive mental health and wellbeing. The winning logo by Hanna will continue to be a symbol for this, for years to come.
