Kids Get Branding: What We Learned from Elementary Schoolers
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Strong branding makes a big impact on even the smallest customers.
One of the most fun and eye-opening experiences awen&co had in 2025 was participating in Inspired Learning Day at Memorial Elementary School in Upton, MA.
The annual event, organized by Librarian Karlyn Gale, encourages students to explore the world of entrepreneurship. The program begins with a visit from local business owners who talk about their work. Afterwards, each student is encouraged to dream up their own business idea and design their logo in Canva.
When we got the invite, we were an immediate yes. How could we pass up an opportunity to teach the next generation of business owners about brand design?!
We knew we'd have fun doing a kid-focused version of our Brand Design 101 presentation. What we didn't anticipate was how savvy this elementary school audience would be about brand design!
Teaching kids how we make magic
In addition to awen&co, the school invited two other local businesses: Julie’s Barks & Bubbles and The White Bell Home. Julie’s Barks & Bubbles, located in Mendon, MA, is a dog grooming business where every pup gets undivided attention in a relaxed setting. Meanwhile, The White Bell Home is a beloved shop specializing in home décor, apparel, and gifts in Upton, MA. It was great to get to know these two business owners during the experience.
Stephanie of awen&co presented a kid-focused version of awen&co’s Brand Design 101 presentation to share with the group.
The presentation covered the essential building blocks of visual branding (logo, color palette, and typography) using familiar brands like Lego, Disney, and Minecraft as examples.
When asked to recognize brands from their logos alone, the students were on it. They could immediately identify Nike, Amazon, Google, Starbucks, and more.
It was a reminder of how powerful it is when a brand establishes a strong visual brand and uses it consistently. It also made us think about how much responsibility businesses have when marketing to young people. Brands have an immense influence on the perceptions children form.
We love helping brands connect with kids and families in positive ways. Unfortunately, there are too many brands out there that pull the psychological levers of visual branding to sell products or promote ideas that aren’t age-appropriate and, at times, are patently harmful.
In his book The Kids Market: Myths and Realities, James McNeal suggests that brand recognition begins as early as six months, and brand loyalty seems to start as soon as age two. You could make the case that pre-literate children are the perfect test case for brand perception, since they rely solely on color, imagery, and shape when reacting to brands.
Not only did the students at Memorial School recognize the brands, but they also immediately pinpointed each brand's vibe and central message. Nike was all about movement and energy. Lego felt like playfulness, creativity, and fun. They even picked up on color theory, noting that red made them feel mad, while blue made them feel sad.
It was really amazing to see how effortlessly these young consumers understood the message behind each brand, even without hearing a single word!
There is no escaping the influence of visual branding on your consumer base.
Decades ago, we had print ads, roadside billboards, digital banner ads, and television commercials. Today, we have all of that plus social media influencers, targeted ads everywhere we go online, email marketing, and more. And with the early introduction of screens, today’s children are growing up surrounded by far more overt and covert advertising than ever before.
If you want your business to be recognized, remembered, and sought after, strong visual branding is the key. Consistency matters. Your logo design, color palette, and typography matter. Because if there’s one thing we learned from spending the afternoon with fourth and fifth graders, it’s that even the littlest eyes are on your brand!
Want to learn more about design?
No audience is too big (or small) for our interactive, informative branding & design workshops.
Explore upcoming events or reach out to discuss how we can bring one of our signature sessions to your group!
