Helping British Columbians make informed career choices

Communication design challenge

The Career Education Society of BC (CES) engaged iilo to help them write and design a family of three career development resources for the Ministry of Education and Child Care, supporting the province’s StrongerBC: Future Ready Action Plan.

Each guide needed to speak to a distinct audience while still feeling like part of the same family. Parents and caregivers wanted to feel like a confident “career coach” for their kids, but weren’t always sure where to begin. Career educators, some brand new to the role, needed a clear map of how career education works across BC at every grade level, as well as support and guidance from their colleagues. 

As a key part of the puzzle, employers looking to fill labour gaps needed to know how to connect with their local schools to raise awareness of their industries and businesses and engage with students. The employer guide also needed to highlight specific sector information, like technology and health care, central to the Future Ready Action Plan.

The three guides had to be accessible, visually connected, practical, and easy for all readers to understand and use. They also needed to reflect current and relevant content that could be in circulation for several years. We assembled a team of communications and design experts to work collaboratively with the client team at every stage of production.

Outcomes

Increased awareness of client goals

• The family of resources solidified CES’s reputation as an expert organization championing career education in BC and across Canada and producing high-quality products and resources.
• Through each guide, the Ministry of Education and Child Care was able to go beyond the headlines and reach BC parents and caregivers, employers, and career educators in a deeper way, with more extensive information about their initiatives and how each audience could take advantage of the opportunities.

Content rooted in expertise

• We dove deep to understand the needs of each audience and worked with a select group of career education subject matter experts (SMEs) from the research phase onwards.
• The SME team reviewed the content for each resource at every draft, making sure it reflected their hands-on experience guiding parents and caregivers, supporting their fellow career educators, and working with employers.
• We engaged with Ministry of Education and Child Care representatives throughout the writing process to ensure consistent government messaging.
• Plain language best practices were applied to ensure the content in all three resources was as accessible as possible.

Unique design within an accessible shared visual system

• Working within the StrongerBC brand’s fonts, colours, and graphic elements, we designed a distinct colour palette and tone for each resource, so each one felt tailored to the reader.
• Content was organized accessibly throughout and layered with callout boxes, a family of icons, real-world scenarios, and links for further learning or information.
• We designed a shared infographic included in the three resources to give all readers the same high-level picture of career education in BC and how each audience can engage in BC’s education system. It was created to also work as a stand-alone poster.
• Photography across the resources was sourced to reflect the diversity of BC’s students, families, and employers.
• We engaged an accessibility consultant to support the creative process and technical setup for the design files.
• We delivered accessible files for the BC Ministry of Education and Childcare to make final document refinements before publication.

Consistent project management as a key to success

• We established a steady production rhythm to produce all three resources in a staggered order, with each one resource building on the next, to ensure high quality and continuity.
• We facilitated three structured review and feedback rounds per resource, ensuring that any major changes that surfaced early could be addressed and applied across all three guides.
• We maintained meticulous project documentation throughout the process, which allowed us to brief the team and start working quickly after an unexpected project pause.