Young Carers Add a Unique Touch to ITV's Logo for Idents Takeover

An ITV ident created by young carers from Hillingdon, Kingston and Lambeth under the guidance of Create artist Amy Leung is airing on the channel for seven days from Monday 10th August.

The ident is running as part of the ITV Creates 2020 series, which brings community groups together to reinterpret the channel’s logo in fresh and personal ways. 

Create pitched for the opportunity to deliver this project with ITV and worked with the charity’s professional artist Amy Leung and young carers from Hillingdon, Kingston and Lambeth to deliver it. The young carers came together for a workshop day with Amy before going to the ITV studio in March of this year to create the artwork.

The young carers worked with Amy to create an ident that reflected the importance of collaboration, creativity and wellbeing. They used the individual letters – I, T and V – to explore their identities, their hobbies and interests, and the people and places that they love. They drew pictures and wrote messages that they stuck to large cardboard blocks, which were then put together to build the three letters. As a result, the ITV logo became a wonderful symbol of their personalities.

One of the young carers who took part in the project said: “The day really inspired me because you got to draw, to paint, to be with other people and not just by yourself. Everyone helped each other and made new friends. I’ve learnt that I can be really creative if I set my mind to it. If you’re not creative, it can be really boring because you don’t have anything to do. Doing creative projects with Create shows you that you’re not the only carer and that there are other people caring for their parents.”

There are an estimated 800,000 young carers in the UK. A young carer is someone under 18 who helps look after a family member - or friend - who is ill, disabled, has a mental health condition or misuses drugs or alcohol. The coronavirus pandemic has hit young carers hard: 40% say that their mental health has deteriorated during the pandemic, while 69% are feeling more isolated. Almost 8% of young carers are now spending more than 90 hours a week caring for a family member or friend. 

Create’s founding chief executive, Nicky Goulder said: “As the UK’s leading charity using the creative arts to empower the lives and enhance the wellbeing of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children and adults, we are delighted to have worked in partnership with ITV on this incredible project. We hope that our ident, created with some of the 800,000 young carers in the UK, will help to raise awareness of the challenges they face and the importance of the creative arts for skill building, connectivity and wellbeing. Their stunning ident enabled them to explore who they are, build new relationships with their peers, and grow in confidence and self-esteem. We’re delighted that our partnership with ITV has given these selfless young people an opportunity for self-expression. Hearing their voice, loud and clear, on national TV pays tribute to young carers’ incredible contribution to our society.”