The core brief, generated internally at Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, was to rejuvenate and reposition Youth Services (MPYS) to foster stronger engagement with four distinct, critical stakeholder groups. The key objective was to create a vibrant, inclusive, and impactful identity that resonated with youth while building trust and securing investment from government partners. The output was a comprehensive communications strategy and brand rollout across multiple channels (print, social, email, website, and uniforms).

Key Stakeholders/Audiences:

• Youth Demographic
• Educators/Facilitators
• Parents/Guardians
• Government Stakeholders

As the Communications Lead for Youth Services, my role was fundamentally strategic and hands-on, encompassing both creative direction and policy alignment.

• Strategic & Audience Leadership: I led the initial analysis of the four key audience groups, defining the tone of voice and visual identity requirements while operating within strict public sector values and security guidelines for minors.
• Multi-Channel Execution & Governance: I personally designed the core visual identity and ensured its consistent rollout across all touchpoints (print materials, outdoor signage, engaging video content for social media, and uniforms).
• Digital Uplift: I successfully led the website uplift efforts, introducing key program information and enabling online registrations to reduce staff workloads. I ensured the content was displayed in a simple format to facilitate easy self-management of updates by internal staff, focusing on front-end usability and accessibility.

The rebrand successfully achieved its goal of repositioning MPYS, leading to significant support from government stakeholders and increased connection with the target demographic.

• Stakeholder Engagement: The unified brand identity and multi-channel communications strategy simplified the presentation of complex service offerings, directly strengthening relationships with government stakeholders and increasing program visibility within schools.
• Operational Efficiency: The implementation of online registration provided a measurable improvement in operational efficiency.

The unified brand identity and multi-channel communications strategy simplified complex service offerings, directly contributing to strengthened relationships with government stakeholders and a measurable improvement in operational efficiency through online registration.

The Stakeholder breadth created competing needs (e.g., formal governance vs. youth engagement). I learned to formalise the prioritisation matrix earlier, securing buy-in on the primary target audience (Youth) first. This ensured design decisions were consistently validated against the highest-priority user need, streamlining approvals and policy alignment.