Visual Voice

Through a range of colourful, accessible and adapted art activities, we have developed a visual manifesto alongside learners at Castle Hill School. The manifesto is informing design decisions in and around the school building.  Castle Hill School, Huddersfield, caters for children and young people aged 3-19 that have a range of complex learning and physical needs. This project was designed to give a voice to the students in relation to the visual changes within their physical environment.

A series of workshops were held for all class groups, these were focussed on exploring colour choices, patterns and structures. Through this exploration, a colour pallet emerged. This palette has become the school’s manifesto colours and they are being used both inside and outside the school to establish a strong visual identity that is punchy, fun and uplifting, enhancing the overall school environment in a way that is reflective of the students choices and likes.

To date the school colours and the manifesto have been used to create vinyl wraps for playground sheds, window frame colours, vinyl wrap of the outdoor sensory pod, discrete pieces of artwork for two sensory rooms, painted workbenches and a colour banner for the foyer area. The school intends to continue to use the manifesto to inform future design decisions.