Brickton Montessori School

BRAND IDENTITY, COLLATERAL MATERIALS, ADVERTISING

— A labor of love.

THE CHALLENGE

To capture and convey the unique, nurturing essence of the school and transform its image.

THE PROCESS

This was one of the most difficult projects I ever tackled, not because it was hard to come up with the graphics, but because at the time, the administration did not feel they needed a branding overhaul. Their current logo was only a few years old, but I and a few brave souls knew it wasn't right. We all cared deeply about the school and pushed ahead despite much resistance. We had to carefully think through every step of the pitch and transformation. A trial by fire, but boy was it worth it in the end!

SOME FACTS

Staying power says it all. It has been almost ten years since their transformation, and the branding and imagery are alive and well because they truly resonate with the Brickton community.

Brickton Montessori is a school that lets the child steer their own learning and discovery. It was a fantastic "product", but its branding and packaging did not convey the vibrant and nurturing environment which they provided. Their old logo communicated education, but seemed more suited to a traditional, private prep-school.
So why frogs?
When you walk into Brickton, the first thing you see is a giant frog tank filled with lush philodendron and tiny, orange-colored frogs. There is a step all around it so the little ones can have a good look. Every time the kids come through, they stop to see if they can spot one of the frogs. Every. Time. Some stay just a minute, and some quite a bit longer. (you can see the tank in the lower right-hand corner of the photo above) This tank is unique to Brickton and is a metaphor for the discovery process encouraged at the school. It not only inspired all the visuals, but also the tag line, "Follow the child."

Once the frog and the philodendron were worked out, everything came together very quickly. Here are the letterhead, envelope, business cards and a bumper sticker.

Behold the majestic, outdoor signage.

Once the branding was in place, the tag-line lead us to a very fertile area, which playfully captures what the school does best. There is always a need to generate enrollment and so Brickton would regularly run quarter-page ads in local papers and regional parenting magazines. The campaign is still running today. (click here)

In addition to running ads, direct mail was employed to reach out to families looking for alternatives to traditional education.

Montessori education officially begins in the Toddler classroom, which is composed of very inquisitive and industrious two-year-olds. This was a poster put up around school and in the surrounding neighborhood venues to demonstrate just how focused and capable a two-year-old can be when given the right job. Toddler moms everywhere rejoiced!

The kids at Brickton go on a lot of field trips to explore new places. This required some nice, orange, easy-to-spot t-shirts for the students, and tasteful green ones for parents and staff. Below are some shots of the shirts in action. They all say "Brickton Montessori School" on the back.

Aside from stationery, I revamped all the signage around the school to reflect the new identity.

It was a huge effort to get buy-in from the administration, faculty and staff and we worked very hard to put together a presentation that would explain the process and get everyone excited about the evolution. We used a website as well as physical demonstrations. We also managed to get a portion of the parent community to come out and help us repaint the school. It was FANTASTIC!

The website design kept being refined. A couple sample pages.

Some doodles of frog animations as well as t-shirt designs.