Rogers Park Montessori

BRAND IDENTITY, COLLATERAL MATERIALS

— A beautiful school, inside and out.

THE CHALLENGE

This wonderful school has been around for over 50 years. It has flourished and grown and had moved into one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, created just for them. In the process, their old logo and website felt left behind and no longer in sync with the vibrancy of the new surroundings. The challenge was to make the web experience parallel to a physical visit to the school, capturing both the energy of its students as well as the colorful, dynamic surroundings. As we worked on it, a need was expressed to make the logo less juvenile and more in line with something the 13 and 14-year-olds could/would wear on their team uniforms.

THE PROCESS

Color dominated everything. There was so much beautiful color, everywhere, that needed to be both orchestrated and featured. Also, the concept of the logo needed to be maintained, but the rendering needed to be updated, to better fit and reflect the style of the new school.

SOME FACTS

Prior to the redesign, there had been multiple versions of the logo in use, with no set guidelines and no files provided to address different media needs. This all changed after we established the updated logo and provided the school with style guides and files for any situation.
The transition from a website visit to a school tour is now seamless.

You must understand that this project was Art Director Heaven. ALL the colors to play with! The project began by me touring the school and just taking it all in. I needed to create an online experience of physically being in the school. You have to see this place to believe it! Below are some images of the extraordinary school, as well as the palette I developed based on the colors used throughout the hallways and classrooms.

Our main job was to update their website and as I worked on it, I found their current logo was both at odds with their new facility as well as the age range of the students they serve. That logo was developed back when there was no Middle School and the emphasis was on Preschool and Elementary. At the time it captured the energy of that age-group, but now it felt too young. It was leading me to create a look that was almost too colorful and childlike, not in tune with the elegance and sophistication of the facility. The website was designed within the membership management software, Wild Apricot.You can click here to see an example.

The window panes in the logo symbolize the various grades or programs within the school, and it was critical that those stand out. I did not want to come up with a new logo, but instead evolve the original to better fit its new home and students. Below are the re-interpreted, individual panes followed by the new, assembled woodcut version I designed.

Once the new logo was in place, the website practically created itself. Below are some of the sample pages that were presented. The wood cut window panes became key features of the Programs page, which really helped to visually organize the content. Happily, the end result is very similar and you can visit the website *here*.

After the look and feel of the logo and the website had been nailed down, everyone was excited to implement the new identity over all collateral materials. Below are samples of the business card, a letterhead, fax cover-page, email signature and a sample email.

The client understood how important it was that their new brand identity remain consistent throughout all platforms, and so they requested that I create a style guide for them. Below are a few pages from it.

In addition to redesigning thew website and logo, I got a chance to photograph both the children and the environs, to fill in imagery for the web pages. Here are some of my favorite shots.

At one point, the client had mentioned that it would be fun to have Montessori-themed emojis. Well here they are!

$circle fraction$ color box

I am always curious about the process and like to see the evolution of an idea. Here are some samples of working with the early logo as well as the first round of web pages, prior to converting the logo rendering to a wood cut.