The Lost Boys Task Force

The Lost Boys Taskforce is a cross-sector coalition of leaders – from football, education, youth work, policy, and business – in the UK. Chaired by Paul Barber OBE, Chief Executive of Brighton & Hove Albion FC, it was formed by Football Beyond Borders.

The Taskforce is concerned that too many boys in Britain are growing up isolated, disengaged from school, and vulnerable to toxic online influences.

As a result, it’s campaigning for a “Trusted Adult Guarantee” – an adult outside of the family who a young person feels safe going to when they are struggling.

Trusted Adults already exist, so it’s about building on a program, instead of developing it from the ground up.

The Taskforce has a clear goal: to influence politicians and opinion formers to pressure the government for funding that would be matched by football.

They needed a simple brand framework, identity, and logo that would stand apart from existing political identities, have universal appeal and be distinct.

In addition to the Taskforce, we also identified the need to create an identity that could flex from The Lost Boys Taskforce to the Trusted Adult Movement.

The long-term goal was for a movement where every teenager (regardless of gender) has access to a trusted adult.

We began with extensive desk research, looking at successful political lobbying campaigns, their messaging and consistent visual markers.

Podcasts about the lost generation of young adults and boys were also key, and we accessed vital insights from Channel 4 and academics like Richard Reeves.

From this we created a brand framework. It laid out a personality, tone of voice, and brand position to establish the ‘persuasively ambitious’ nature of the Taskforce. ‘Persuasive’ because Trusted Adults have an effective impact, and ‘ambitious; because their aim is to help a whole generation of British boys and men.

We developed a colour palette that was based on the different characteristics within a trusted adult relationship, shown as two dominant colours representing feelings of trust, hope, growth, and healing. The colour combinations are also WCAG AAA accessible for maximum appeal within government and education institutions.

We also created a ‘progress pattern,’ demonstrating the ultimate goal of the trusted adult relationship and the task force itself: growth.