Anticipating the planned opening of the new Wurun Senior Campus for Collingwood College & Fitzroy High School, Beyond Web was called in to create a fresh new brand and visual identity for Collingwood College, and refresh their existing website.
The vibrant new brand identity supports the college’s ambition to become the first-choice provider of education in the area, and inspires the proud ownership by staff, students, and parents.
Brief
The purpose of this project was to:
- Create a new brand identity for an existing school
- Ensure the new brand identity is relevant, creative, polished and professional
- Ensure the new brand identity represents the school’s values and community’s aspirations.
Challenge
The educational sector is very competitive in Melbourne, Australia. Collingwood College needed to differentiate their offerings while emphasising their unique positioning. The school needed a brand strategy that would allow them to stand out and appeal to both parents and students.
We focused on building a distinctive brand position that focused on being innovative, diverse and fun – but also committed to improving children’s development through the formative years. It became important to also develop a unique brand identity that would differentiate the school from its competitors.
Research
The existing school identity system was fragmented and inconsistent. This resulted in brand dilution or loss of recognition. The current logo also felt unrefined and therefore unprofessional. We ran a study of the logo industry to find out if there was anything missing, and based on our results it looks like local schools haven’t found a way to represent their values or history with their school’s logo.
Solution
Each of the different parts of the logo are related to the School’s values. For example, each element stands for one specific value or characteristic that is important to Collingwood College. The elements can also be separated into individual pieces to create more playful & dynamic applications. This allows us to apply a sense of creativity, curiosity and energy to the schools branding.
The school community’s values and aspirations are communicated through a simple graphic which touches on the following themes:
- Diversity: The curved lines represent interconnected cultures and showcases the diversity of the school. The design is inspired by aboriginal & indigenous art styles.
- Creativity: The two ‘C’ shapes symbolise the creative values of the School. The two ‘C’ shapes also represent the School name (Collingwood College)
- Innovation: The sprout symbolises student growth and innovation within the environment. The design is inspired by the Kitchen Garden Program at the School.
- Relationships: The diagonal lines symbolise student and staff relationships as well as community. Their kinetic energy and apparent movement create excitement.
Support
Beyond Web created a brand guideline for this organisation to protect its investment in the new brand. We also provided branded templates for presentations, policy documents, business cards, stationery and an enrolment booklet.
The Beyond Web team was also commissioned to take a look at the college’s existing WordPress website. We were able to identify areas that needed improvement and are currently in the process of redesigning and redeveloping the website to prioritise the college’s key audiences and objectives. The website will be launching later this year.
Results
The work for Collingwood College was a success and received a lot of positive feedback from clients, stakeholders, and from the general public. After unveiling the new brand identity and applying it across the school’s communication touch points, the school had an overwhelming number of positive feedback and new enquiries.
