Description:

The Why

Careers expos can be dull and un-inspiring environments.

At best you may get a info flyer, tote bag or perhaps a free packet of stale spearmint sweets.

Skills Group have the goal of providing career pathways through democratising skills training for everyone.

Skills Group want to challenge the status quo of these careers expos by giving jobseekers a unique taste of the training and career opportunities through giving a skill a go and opening attendees up to the world of training options.

The Idea

70% of what we know is learned through hands-on experience, daily tasks and challenges.
Skills Alley consists of a bespoke collection of ten carefully curated and vibrant Skills ‘Shacks’ where attendees are able to give a new skill a go.

Each Shack has its own interactive experience that attendees can engage across trades, healthcare, business, Police and defence, hospitality, and beauty. This provides a unique taster of the training Skills Group offers to prospective students.

The Design

Throughout Aotearoa, there are a plethora of careers expos all shapes and sizes. Skills Group has the ambition of attending major expos throughout the year.

As a response to this, the Shacks and supporting environmental elements needed to utilise lightweight materials for ease of assembly, pack down and flat pack for shipping to each location.

Depending on the requirement of each expo event, the footprint and layout of the ten Shacks and supporting environmental way finding are modular. All, or some can be activated for events determined on the scale or flavour of each careers expo.

One of the challenges for the design team was the creation of a design language to inform each and every touchpoint across the space and unify the Shacks in a cohesive manner.

For attendees to feel comfortable and want to engage with the experiences, the Shacks needed to feel accessible, friendly and welcoming so guests would want to discover and venture into them.

The warm exterior of the dressed plywood provides a friendly shell for each experience to shine from.
From the bright orange welcome arrow to signal Skills Alley, to each experience way finding sign, brochure stands and illustrations, we use a bright, bold colour palette to welcome attendees.

The palette is strategically used on key way finding assets to guide attendees through the experience.

Environmental graphics, both on the wall signage and way finding help identify and educate at each Shack, with bold graphics in key areas to bring each experience to life.

Bright coloured, eye catching display stands accompany each Shack. These provide course information in a way that allows attendees space to browse in their own time.

At each Shack Skills staff host attendees, they provide guidance for the experience and help prospective students sign up to course training.

What Elevates the Work

Skills Alley provides access and helps foster conversations for those that aren’t sure of their career pathway by providing an opportunity to give a new skill a go.

The result was not only a cohesive brand experience and graphic system that connects attendees to the environment, but also setting up future career pathways for training numerous students.

They will continue to be used at future career expos and job fairs, as a way of providing playful, interactive experiences that bring vocational skills to life.