Puddleducks Early Learning
Led and designed the creation of a childcare brand identity: visual and written identity, social media assets, copywriting, and signage.
Rebrand an early-learning centre into a water world of whimsy ahead of its soft local relaunch (visual identity, social, art, and signage) to drive a 50% increase in enrolment in six months and a new centre expansion within one year. Maximise hallucinations to increase whimsy.
You say Puddleducks, I say all the ducks: big ones, teeny ones, and silly ones. But who said to uniquely paint each brand element with watercolour and stipple brushes? Whimsical, but I saw god that export eve. I still can’t open these art files. They defy even the M4.
How it started
Had the dynamic duo behind Puddleducks waited five years, their 2000s childcare brand would’ve swung right back around into trend. But they didn’t, because they couldn’t (it was very 2000s), so we didn’t.
Despite their strong reputation, a childcare fixed to the back of a shopping mall does require a bit of a behaviour change for new families. Drop off via multi-level car lot anyone? But with near perfect Google reviews, we had to get the word out. Nothing a vibrant, locally influenced rebrand and cheeky soft relaunch can’t fix. Probably. Young families love malls, right?
The brief started with just a logo. I asked them, “Are you sure?” to which everyone then came to their senses and I built them a brand instead. Oh, and one ginormous billboard. Handed complete creative freedom (love), the only condition was to include paint. That’s it. Watercolour and acrylic. Almost oil too, but quality Illustrator brushes eluded my grasp.
How it’s going
That whimsical water world did wonders. Turns out people love ducks and young families do like malls, so they don’t mind going out of the way. Enrolments doubled in 6 months (boom) and ~12 months later, the owners broke ground (pond?) at a new centre. As always, brand is but one part of a bigger whole. But if you wanted to attribute 20% of those results to my various ducks, I’d still say you were being too generous.
Built for the aqua babies of Sydney’s Northern Beaches, our iconography borrowed from our local hangs: with ducks, native flora (seaweed included), ponds, puddles, and patterns all taking centre-stage. We parted ways with a vibrant and art-forward visual identity that spoke to both the brand’s core values (connection, diversity, sustainability) and their new waitlist of customers.
Boutique, local. And with a s&*t tonne of ducks.
Paint every brand element by hand: watercolour and stipple-brush patterns, ducks of every size, native flora (seaweed included), and a pond or two.
Posters for the centre and the mall: short, warm lines for local families, set in the painted water world.
Social for the soft relaunch: see our space, meet our team, and our furry friends. Make the back of a mall look like the best-kept secret on the Northern Beaches.
Brand applications
Puddleducks Early Learning Centre watercolour logo.