Co-creating MoE's Ngā Tau Mīharo storytelling system with their Māori Advisory Group

The Ministry of Education (MoE) needed to develop a fresh brand, visual identity system, and document format for Ngā Tau Mīharo, Incredible Years Aotearoa.

Incredible Years is a researched-based parenting programme from the United States, devised for families with children who exhibit challenging behaviour or learning difficulties. It has been designed to promote social, emotional, and academic competence in children. 



One of our main tasks was to indigenise the story for audiences in Aotearoa. It needed to feel like it belonged to those who delivered and received the programme on a daily basis. At the same time, it had to be a recognisable, well designed system that worked for MoE.

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The key driver of success for this project was establishing whakawhanaungatanga with the Ngā Tau Mīharo Māori Advisory Group (MAG). This was co-creation in its truest sense: establishing trust, allowing everyone to have a voice, reflecting the ambition of the group, and honouring those who had contributed.

The creative journey started with engaging Ghost’s Te Ao Māori creative partner to examine the spirit of Ngā Tau Mīharo, starting with concepts from different whakataukī and whakatauākī.

This gave us the authenticity the story needed and rich territory for our creative journey.

The original Ngā Tau Mīharo Incredible Years tohu (symbol) had been gifted by iwi Kaumātua to the Incredible Years team, and was recognised to be of high significance. The final direction was chosen collaboratively with MoE and the MAG, to build on the foundation of the original identity with respect and awareness.

Metaphorically, the Ngā Tau Mīharo identity symbolises the community and whanau that nurture and support our children, growing like the ‘rito’ or the central stem of the harakeke.

The flowers of the harekeke are evidence of these communities and families flourishing, while the roots of the harekeke draw down into the soil providing strength and nourishment.

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Once we had settled on a mode of storytelling, we focused on the channels and mechanisms to bring the story of Ngā Tau Mīharo to life. Videos were produced, telling the story of Ngā Tau Mīharo and the importance of the programme to our communities.

The MAG became a key part in our story-telling, being passionate individuals with deep experience in delivering the programme. They were crucial in telling the Ngā Tau Mīharo story in their words and from the heart.

To ensure community engagement, our brand and collateral system needed to feel like it had come from the community itself, rather than driven by the Ministry.

The system was therefore designed as deliberately earthy, textured and warm by layering in rich, emotive content; with real people telling the story in their own words.

A series of soft paper textures, torn edges, natural shapes and sketches helped layer in a sense of handcrafted design while the colour palette was kept bright and engaging.

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Although produced by Ghost, the system was co-designed with passionate partners and stakeholders who accompanied us on the creative journey. Each individual’s input was evaluated carefully and captured in some form in our final result.

While the visual system we created is warm and spirited, we consider the relationships and trust we developed along the way to be of upmost value.