Putting Indigenous Languages Back into Homes

Indigenous woman drumming with two girls

Indigenous family featured in the Language for Life resource

Date 2018

ClientFirst Peoples' Cultural Council

Work TypeReports

Team

Madelen Ortega, project manager; Sebastian Abboud, creative director; Laura Timmermans, designer & illustrator

The Language for Life resource iilo designed for FPCC was informative for parents and family members, and lively and appealing to children, and helped to give families the confidence to learn and use their Indigenous language every day.

Communication Design Challenge

The First People’s Cultural Council is a First Nations-run Crown Corporation that supports the revitalization of Indigenous languages, arts, culture and heritage in BC. We were engaged to design Language for Life, a print and digital resource that supported families to integrate their Indigenous language into their households and daily activities.

Front Cover and a two page spread of the language for life Report — Cover and inside spread in the Language for Life resource

While iilo Creative Alliance has created several business documents and reports For FPCC in the past, Language for Life was unique, since it was aimed at parents and children. Language for Life included content sections to outline the integration process and offer tips and encouragement, as well as a section with activities and templates.

Design Approach

We began this project by delivering a creative concept, to establish the look and feel of the resource while the content was being edited, and original photography was being produced. The concept reflected the FPCC brand, and we designed a fun footer graphic to reinforce the idea of home and language. We also suggested appealing ways to highlight key content such as callout boxes, speech bubbles and unique graphics.

two page spread of the Language for Life Pages — Icons created for the Language for Life resource

The colour palette for Language for Life evolved from darker to lighter FPCC brand colours once design began, and the content, photography and design elements all came together nicely after we had an approved creative concept. Activity and template pages were given special treatment, since each one was unique – some required original graphics and space to provide responses, while others needed to incorporate illustrations and instructions.

Outcomes

The end result is an informative, engaging, and easy-to-read 40-page resource that parents and children in BC can use to integrate their Indigenous language into their home life.