Pride of Yorkshire

Branding | Illustration | Copywriting

A roar-some (ahem) branding project

First there were the elephants. Then came the bears. In 2026, it's the turn of the lions.

Pride of Yorkshire is the third sculpture trail from Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity, running from June to September 2026. It’ll bring life-sized lions and lionesses to the streets of South Yorkshire, designed by artists from across the region and beyond, to raise vital funds for the hospital.

Research

The trails are a huge undertaking for the charity, with all aspects managed in-house, and with the Pride of Yorkshire trail being more than double the size of previous trails we needed to start early!

We started the process in 2024 with a series of design workshops and stakeholder surveys to understand what had worked well on previous sculpture trails, and how we could enhance the profile of the 2026 edition.

The team were generous with their time and their input throughout. We took all of the comments on board and through an iterative process we shaped the look and feel of the Pride of Yorkshire identity together.

Creative direction

Our research phase showed that the link between the sculpture trail and the charity needed to be stronger. As such we ensured all visual elements of the Pride of Yorkshire identity were taken from the core charity brand. We were working on the charity rebrand in tandem, so could ensure cohesion between the two – and we could make sure the charity brand had enough flex for stand-alone campaigns.

Our first suggestion for the Pride of Yorkshire logo, with a lions face and a Yorkshire rose, was a hit with the whole charity team, and after a few tweaks, became the basis of our creative approach.

Our writer, Kat, also worked on a range of key messages that demonstrated both the purpose and impact of the trail, and that amplified the message of pride – in patients, families, staff, and the pride felt across the region for Sheffield Children’s. Kat also created messaging that worked across South Yorkshire, and for the individual cities and towns taking part.

Our work on the Pride of Yorkshire branding followed our brand refresh for Sheffield Children’s Hospital Charity itself. To create cohesion across the two, we brought in a series of shapes and a colour palette for this project that complemented our design for the charity.

Illustrating South Yorkshire

With 150 sculptures in total – one for each year of Sheffield Children’s Hospital – this is the charity's biggest fundraising public art trail yet.

For the first time, it’ll cover the whole of South Yorkshire. So we incorporated iconic landmarks from across Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster and Sheffield into our illustration suite.