Commissioned by Kilkenny County Council, Carlow County Council, Healthy Carlow, Healthy Kilkenny, CYPSC Carlow and CYPSC Kilkenny, this project brought together members of Comhairle na nÓg from both counties to create a youth-led public awareness campaign encouraging adults not to smoke or vape around children and teenagers. Through a series of facilitated workshops, the young people shaped the campaign's identity, messaging and visual direction, ensuring the final outcome reflected their experiences, concerns and voice. The result was "Not Around Us". A bold, accessible campaign built around the simple message: "Smoke Free, Vape Free, Thank You!"

- Facilitated workshops with Comhairle na nÓg members from Carlow and Kilkenny
- Applied the Lundy Model of Participation to ensure meaningful youth engagement throughout the project
- Gathered insights and lived experiences from young people relating to smoking and vaping around children and teens
- Developed the campaign name, messaging strategy and communications framework
- Created the campaign tagline: "Smoke Free, Vape Free, Thank You!"
- Designed a youth-led brand identity and logo system
- Developed a suite of custom illustrations featuring young people
- Produced campaign assets for print and digital channels
- Created a flexible visual identity for use by multiple partner organisations across both counties
Not Around Us
Client
Kilkenny County Council, Carlow County Council, Healthy Carlow, Healthy Kilkenny, CYPSC Carlow and CYPSC Kilkenny
Role
Facilitation, Strategy, Brand Identity, Messaging and Campaign Design
The Challenge
Research continues to highlight the impact that smoking and vaping can have on children and young people, particularly when it occurs in homes, cars, sports grounds and other shared spaces.
The commissioning partners wanted to create a campaign that would encourage positive behaviour change among adults. However, rather than speaking on behalf of young people, they wanted the campaign to be shaped by the people most affected by the issue.
The challenge was to create a clear, memorable campaign that young people could genuinely stand behind and that adults would respond positively to.
The Approach
The project brought together members of Comhairle na nÓg from both Carlow and Kilkenny.
The workshops were designed using the Lundy Model of Participation, a rights-based framework that ensures children and young people have the opportunity to express their views, have those views listened to, and see them influence decision-making.
This approach ensured the participants were not simply being consulted on pre-determined ideas. Instead, they played an active role in shaping the campaign's identity, messaging and direction.
Through a series of facilitated workshops, we explored:
- The impact smoking and vaping has on young people
- Where young people most commonly encounter smoking and vaping
- How existing public health campaigns are perceived
- What messages would encourage behaviour change without creating conflict
- The language and visual styles young people felt would resonate most strongly
The workshops created a space where participants could openly share their experiences and perspectives while working collaboratively towards a shared solution.
Building the Message
One of the strongest insights from the workshops was that young people wanted the campaign to remain positive and respectful.
Rather than focusing on guilt or judgement, they wanted a message that simply asked adults to be considerate of the children and teenagers around them.
This led to the campaign's core message:
Smoke Free, Vape Free, Thank You!
Simple.
Polite.
Direct.
The phrase became the foundation for all campaign communications and provided an easy call to action that could be understood instantly.
Creating the Identity
The visual identity was designed to reflect the young people who created it.
Illustrated teenagers became a central part of the campaign, helping the audience immediately understand who the message was coming from.
The logo incorporated a range of icons connected to smoking, vaping, health and wellbeing, creating a visual system that could be used consistently across different formats and campaign materials.
The overall identity was designed to feel:
- Youth-led
- Positive
- Friendly
- Accessible
- Highly visible in public spaces
The Outcome
The final campaign provided the commissioning partners with a complete brand identity and messaging system that could be rolled out across multiple channels and environments.
Deliverables included:
- Campaign name and messaging framework
- Brand identity and logo system
- Illustration style and visual assets
- Posters and promotional materials
- Campaign resources for community use
- Digital assets for online promotion
The result was a campaign created with young people rather than for young people, ensuring the message remained authentic to the audience it was designed to represent.
The Impact
Using the Lundy Model ensured that young people's participation was meaningful rather than tokenistic. Their experiences, opinions and ideas directly informed the final campaign, creating a stronger sense of ownership and resulting in messaging that felt authentic to the audience it represented.
The project demonstrated the value of involving young people directly in the design of public health campaigns.
By placing their voices at the centre of the process, the campaign achieved:
- Genuine youth ownership of the message
- Strong stakeholder alignment
- A clear and memorable public-facing identity
- Resources that could be used consistently across both counties
- A positive and respectful approach to behaviour change
- A participatory process where young people's views visibly shaped the final outcome
Key Insight
When the people most affected by an issue help shape the solution, the outcome becomes more authentic, more relevant and ultimately more effective.
The success of Not Around Us came from creating space for young people to lead the conversation and ensuring their voice remained visible throughout every stage of the project.