Nepacs – Paving the Way

Designing a resource pack by young people, for young people.

Nepacs is a north east charity aiming to promote a positive future for prisoners, offenders and their relatives by supporting family ties at every stage of the criminal justice system.

For people released from prison it can be an unsettling time for both them and their families, especially for young care leavers. Nepacs wanted to support this transition and had been developing a pioneering workshop programme and resource pack. We were appointed to support them to bring this unique resource to life.

Nepacs charity prison resource programme and activity pack branding by Altogether Creative.

Aiming to prepare and equip young people with the skills and knowledge to help them lead a more fulfilling life when released, the programme was co-produced by the young people in partnership with Nepacs. For the resources to be useful, it was integral that young people were involved in it’s creation – steering the content to things they really care about and will find useful. Content around knowing their rights, finding a home, learning to improve their communication skills, day to day life skills and wellbeing techniques provide the main focus.

Visually we worked up a number of concepts that were presented to the young people, involving them at every stage, in choosing imagery, colour palettes and typefaces. They wanted the imagery to feel real and the typography to be punchy and bold, no messing. Interestingly they told us that this felt ‘legit’. The seal of approval.

Nepacs charity prison resource programme and activity pack branding by Altogether Creative.
Nepacs charity prison resource programme and activity pack branding by Altogether Creative.
Nepacs charity prison resource programme and activity pack brand by Altogether Creative.

The project titled ‘Paving the way’, uses bold type in graphic blocks to show a path. Importantly the sections reflect the many skills the young people can learn through the programme, piecing them together if they choose to, to give themselves more options in their new life.

Colours link back to the Nepacs brand, but the young people were keen to use blues, greens and purples, yellows and oranges were too garish, so we echoed their feedback. Black and white reportage imagery depicts the different modules in the programme.

Over 100 worksheets were designed to support each module so the groups can keep them to refer to in their own time. Graphic black iconography is used throughout the sheets keeping them honest, simple and accessible. The final pack is made up of a facilitators pack with a module guide for each of the 4 modules, worksheets for each module, and participant folders to collate the content from each session for the young people.

Supported by HMPS as a pilot project, the packs will be launched in prisons across the country & we are incredibly proud to be involved.

Nepacs charity prison resource programme and activity pack branding by Altogether Creative.
Nepacs charity prison resource programme and activity pack branding by Altogether Creative.

Sarah and the team were a pleasure to work with, they listened to our project vision for the resources we needed and brought everything to life. We absolutely love the materials they designed for us from the colours, fonts and over all design look. We couldn’t have asked for a better partnership and highly recommend the Altogether team.

Dawn Simpson Nepacs Resettlement Manager