Barnwood Trust

Raising awareness where it really matters - Supporting Barnwood Trust’s mission to drive social change for disabled people and those with mental health conditions.

Barnwood Trust is a charity committed to creating social change by working alongside disabled people and individuals with mental health conditions. Since 2021, we have partnered with the Trust on multiple projects, delivering strategic campaign support, awareness raising, and barrier removal initiatives. Our collaboration has helped amplify their vital work, reaching wider audiences and driving meaningful community impact.

Barnwood Circle

In 2021 Barnwood Trust commissioned Bitter Lemon Creative to create a name and brand identity for their new membership scheme. Through an extensive series of workshops with the Barnwood team and experts by lived experience, we created the Barnwood Circle.

Inside or out?

After multiple possible candidates, as a group we chosen the name Barnwood Circle. This posed interesting feedback as half the group considered a circle inclusive (because they saw themselves inside the circle) while the other half saw the circle as exclusive (because they thought of themselves as outside). To be successful, the membership scheme had to be inclusive so the question was, how to show an open and closed circle?

The answer

Through consultation during the workshops, we came to understand, the membership group isn’t one big group all with the same challenges. The membership is actually lots of smaller groups (circles) coming together with a common goal. Therefore it made sense that the Barnwood Circle icon is actually made up of a collective of smaller circles. One is neither in nor out, but part of the greater idea.

Empowered Employers.

Disabled people face a complex range of barriers to accessing meaningful employment. These barriers show up in attitudes, financial barriers, spaces, policies, and practices. In 2021 Barnwood Trust commissioned Bitter Lemon Creative to create a name and brand identity for a new initiative to tackle these barriers.

The Academy of Empowered Employers, later shortened to Empowered Employers is a campaign that looks at the three ways in which barriers to employment present themselves; the employment gap, the pay gap and the opportunities gap.

Changing perceptions with a poster

The poster psychologically delivers the mission of the Academy by educating the reader and changing their perception of the message of the poster. The quote gives the misconception and stops the viewer in their tracks. The handwritten word corrects the misconception. The Did You Know fact further educates the reader. The logo and tagline join the dots together.