Village SOS

Rural communities across the UK are in crisis. A lack of local employment and an ageing population have created ghost villages where the pubs are closed and the churches and village halls are empty.

Village SOS is all about solving those problems, or at least trying to help out a bit - villages apply for funding and expert help and then get active online to form networks of willing volunteers across the country, sharing advice and resources to make the countryside a better place to be (although presumably it'll still be full of spiders).

We did the digital part of the project, but the Big Lottery Fund liked the brand development work I did so much (it was just a logo when I started) they've used it across the TV show and a load of print collateral. So that's nice.

I did loads of art direction upfront to help the project team work out where they wanted to take the brand. My favourite route was all about classic rural charm - I wanted to evoke a steam train puffing into a station on a warm summer night as the sun sets over a cricket pitch and spectators with cucumber sandwiches politely applaud.

Despite the clarity of my vision, though, everybody else thought it was a bit twee. So we ended up pursuing a much more dynamic, local activism aesthetic - in retrospect it probably turned out much better and everyone seems to like it so I don't really mind.