Ronald Knox Montessori School

BRAND IDENTITY, COLLATERAL MATERIALS

— Authentic Montessori.

THE CHALLENGE

This Montessori school was the first in Wilmette and is the only acrredited shool in the areathat is a big deal in the Montessori world. Recently a lot of other schools in the area have started using the "Montessori" label as a way of attracting families, as it is a tried and valued method. It takes much study, effort and certification to be deemed a tru Montessori school, but most families do not know that. Ronald Knox Montessoriwas getting lost in the crowd of new schools and their enrollment was starting to suffer.

THE PROCESS

Authenticity was the strategy we agreed upon as the lens by which to judge all creative efforts. Authentically Montessori. The benefit being the child will thrive long-term based on this proven method.

SOME FACTS

Prior to the rebranding, the school had a very generic logo that communicated "child", but the uniqueness of Montessori was lost and thus the school did not stand out in the crowd of preschools in the community.
The school has completely embraced all aspects of the brand re-design, the colors are literally on the walls and the branding is consistent in all materials.

Their existing logo was doing a poor job of communicating the authenticty of the Montessori education children receiv at Ronald Knox. They looked like just another preschool, which could not be further from the truth.

The new logo had to be a marriage of true Montessori materials as well as the existing personality of the Ronald Knox School, a warm environment in a classic building on a quiet, bucolic street.

The new logo resonated with the whole community. Many families' first introduction to many of the preschools in the area is through visiting the school's website. It was important to recreate the experience of being in Knox's light, airy classrooms. My focus was to use the color of the maple furniture and Montessori materials throughout the school as the underlying palette for all the visual content. The website was created using the membership management software, Wild Apricot. You can view the updated website *here*.

Once the new logo was esteblished it was time to build the brand and start using the new strategy of authenticity to communicate the benefits of a Ronald Knox Montessori education the the community. It was imperative that they establish themselves as the genuiune provider of a true Montessori experience. The following is a series of print ads and an open house invitation that ran in the local papers.

In additon to ads created for local papers, brochures were created for various summer programs. They were available in both print and PDF formats.

Elements for their Facebook presense were also designed with the new strategy in mind. These are some slides that rotate through the header on their page.

It was important to keep the branding consistent not only for prospective families, but for current families as well as it creates a sense of stability and leadership. The school sends out an email nesletter every week and it was important to design elements for it in line with the new brand. Below is an examply of the email header as well as a few of the many icons designed for specific news events.

The logo was a hit and has been on everything from notepads to backpacks and bumper stickers. Here it is as a business card and on a t-shirt that every child wears on a field trip.

The school needed to be able to run with the new branding as it created new elements for communication, so it was my pleasure to provid them with a brief style guide. Below are a few pages from it.

The school went through a complete makeover and the "Knox Blue" was incorporated into all elements of the building and grounds.