Story

Design School students work with Belvoir Farm and the Woodland Trust to bring awareness to nature conservation

Photograph of a series of drinks bottles featuring graphic labels.

Written byReshmi Mohan
Published date 01 November 2023

The students at London College of Communication (LCC) belong to an ethically conscious generation who seek to drive change with their creative practice.

We have been committed to fostering relationships that provide avenues to make the world a better place, and our Business and Innovation team is always on the lookout for purpose-driven partnerships that harness the students’ creativity to make a positive difference.

Celebrating the Belvoir Farm and Woodland Trust partnership

Belvoir Farm is known for celebrating nature with their drinks made with natural ingredients. They have been dedicated to the cause of protecting the wild since 1984. The UK is one of the least wooded countries in Europe and much of its woodland is in extremely poor condition due to which one third of all woodland wildlife species are in decline. Early in 2023, Belvoir Farm partnered with the Woodland Trust, the UK’s largest woodland conservation charity, to strengthen their commitment to nature conservation.

The Woodland Trust’s research showed that although 7 out of 10 young people are worried about climate change and its effects, 86% of the people surveyed felt that being outdoors and among nature had a positive effect on their mental health. Both Belvoir Farm and the Woodland Trust recognised that young people will be the most impacted by the climate crisis and wanted to reach out to them to understand their approach to the issue.

Belvoir Farm approached the Business and Innovation team at LCC to collaborate with the next generation of designers and innovators to create limited-edition bottle labels that raised awareness for their partnership with the Woodland Trust, and their commitment to nature recovery and protection of the UK’s woodland, to be launched in stores across the UK in September 2023.

Belvoir Farm extends its support

LCC worked with Belvoir Farm to create a brief for the Design School’s Professional Practices Unit (PPU), led by Steph McLaren-Neckles. PPU is a unit undertaken by all the second-year students from the Design School at LCC. It is an opportunity for them to work in collaborative groups on live industry briefs with the objective of their work being implemented in real-life contexts.

The students worked in collaboration with Belvoir Farm from inception to activation. Working with their creative agency, B&B, they briefed the students on the ethos and values of the Belvoir Farm brand and how this could be communicated through the limited-edition labels.

Around 180 students worked on the brief to produce 36 proposals for Belvoir Farm and the Woodland Trust to review. 2 teams were selected after the final presentations who proceeded to a 2-week bootcamp led by Sunita Yeomans, Course Leader for BA (Hons) Graphic Branding and Identity at LCC, during which the team refined their proposals and ensured that it effectively captured the intention behind the partnership

LCC x Belvoir Farm x Woodland Trust: The Woodland Edition

The Woodland Edition Limited Edition Series

Following the Bootcamp, the winning Woodland Edition Limited Edition Series design was selected. The winning team was invited to B&B London’s creative studio to finalise their designs. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to see what all goes into the design, artwork, production, and printing of the bottle labels. They used this knowledge to finalise their designs for Belvoir Farm and make it ready for production.

The winning team had 4 second-year students - Moonjoo Kim, a BA (Hons) Graphic and Media student, Seoyoon (Yuna) Choi, a BA (Hons) Graphic Branding and Identity student, Shenghan Wang, a BA (Hons) Design for Branded Spaces student, and Stella Werther, a BA (Hons) Design Management student. Their winning design used the sentiments of hope and optimism to capture the essence of the partnership between Belvoir Farm and the Woodland Trust.

“The 2 brands truly do have a mission to reconnect people with the environment whilst also trying to make people aware of the importance of the preservation of nature,” commented Stella Werther.

“Our goal was to bring the enchanting beauty of these natural landscapes to the label. In addition, the choice of colour and the light beaming through the trees was carefully created to convey a bright and hopeful message for the customers,” said Seoyoon Choi (Yuna) on the thought behind the creation of the winning labels.

When asked about their experience of working on this project, Shengan Wang said, "I have learned that there is a strong relationship between the nature and us and that we need to learn and get more people to understand and join us in contributing to the environment in any way possible.”

Photograph of a drinks bottle positioned in the forest. — **Image credit: Rob Smalley, Scene Photography.**

Seeing the designs come to life

Shortly after the announcement of the Belvoir Farm and Woodland Trust partnership, the Woodland Edition bottles were available for purchase during September-October in all UK stores. Through the Woodland Edition, the students of LCC became a part of the legacy of this partnership. The experience was summed up perfectly by Moonjoo Kim: "It is such a great honour to join this wonderful collaborative project of Belvoir Farm and the Woodland Trust and have this opportunity to see our designs get sold in all UK stores.”

The story was covered by many publications including Business Live and Retail Times. Moonjoo Kim and Stella Werther were interviewed along with Belvoir Farm’s founder, Peverel Manners, on Jumoké Fashola's show on BBC Radio London where they shared their experience of working on the project and their shared vision on nature conservation.

It was a fulfilling experience for everyone involved. “We were looking to engage and invest in the next generation of creatives to discover innovation and fresh creative thinking, so partnering with UAL was a terrific opportunity for both parties. It was a fascinating process to see the designs develop. We all went on a journey together to see how our story could be told within these wonderful designs with very talented young designers,” explained Belvoir Farm Director of Marketing, Daniel Wheeler.

Grace Howourth, Head of Youth Re-imagined at the Woodland Trust, added: “Working with Belvoir Farm and the students at University of the Arts London has been such a brilliant experience for us. We know that young people really care about the issues that the Woodland Trust are trying to tackle, and so it is important to us that we include them in our work. We want young people to inform the work we do, and this project has been a great way to do just that. Harnessing young creative talent to bring the conversation about protecting nature and UK woodland to the fore is a key step to galvanising a new generation of climate and nature champions.”