A Lifetime of Education

It’s no surprise that many of our clients are schools, colleges, and educational institutions. As a former director of publications and teacher at two different schools, I’ve seen first-hand the special needs that schools have and know the challenges involved.

Schools and colleges have to address the needs of very different audiences, for example. They need to appeal to 16-year-old high school students applying to colleges, to alumni that may not have stepped foot on campus in 50 years, to professionals and businesses that may hire graduates, to potential educators and staff, and to funding sources for projects, research grants, and scholarships. Then there are the internal brand conflicts that can arise between different divisions with wildly different needs—athletics, academics, financial, to name a few. How can you address the needs of these different audiences while maintaining a consistent brand? How can you speak with a consistent voice while maintaining uniqueness within subdivisions?

Too much variation from a core brand and an institution appears disconnected, losing brand identity. Too little variation compromises the messaging for target groups. An email targeting high school students should share the core DNA with a planned giving brochure for alumni, but the two have very different parameters. Promotional material for the athletics department should share the same DNA as a brochure attracting potential graduate students, but, again, the two target very different audiences.

One of the first goals in designing for education is understanding what the core brand is and what core elements form the identity with the goal of understanding how these elements can be used, manipulated, flexed, so that the resulting designs can be instantly recognizable as connected to the school, but remain fresh and appropriate for the target audience.

Design is a Melody, The Brand is the Symphony

An analogy to this approach can be found is music. Listen to the score of a symphony or even a movie soundtrack. Within this, you’ll often hear a core melody which changes, becomes clearer, more obscured, which is passed between instruments, changed again, returning to its original form over and over. This playfulness is key to keeping the listener entertained and engaged. Periodically, the composer will introduce unexpected elements, quiet passages, loud crashes, syncopated rhythms, minor keys, while keeping within an overall melodic structure. In the end, the work tells a story, completes a picture. In much the same way, designing for an educational institution is like writing that symphony. Individual elements are created that address specific communication needs within an overall structure that is the brand.

Knowing how flexible or how inflexible to be is our expertise. The look and language of a Shapchat filter that targets high school students is different than a dinner invitation that targets your board of trustees. But whether that’s a 1080-by-1920 pixel .PNG file uploaded to a remote server or a 130# uncoated vellum, ivory white, 100% cotton sheet that’s been letterpressed using soy inks, we’ve done it all. We look forward to working with our education clients in the future. As they grow, so will we.

What’s in a Name?

The Wikipedia entry says it right there: John Jay High School is a public high school located in Cross River, New York. It is the only high school in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District. The school, which opened in 1956, is named after John Jay, a Founding father of the United States, and first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who lived nearby. Over the years, the school has been heavily criticized for its mascot, the Indians.

At several times over the past 30 years, the question has been raised whether the school should change its mascot yet, although a 1989 vote by student congress revealed it should, nothing has changed. A recent poll of students revealed a majority of students voting were reluctant to abandon the Indian although there was considerable discussion at the school about the issue. As members of the community, we at Studio 23 had some thoughts.

At the time of the school’s founding, there was much less cultural sensitivity. The “Indian” was chosen, no doubt, as a symbol because it was white affluent society’s interpretation of a kind of fierceness. But recently, the student congress reached out to a native American cultural organization which pointed out that the term “indian” is a racial construct, and is offensive to many in their culture. Clearly, the mascot needs to go.

John Jay Indian Logos
Current John Jay High School iconography.

There are many reasons people are uncomfortable with change, particularly for symbols which hold special meaning to them. Tribal loyalties are questioned, emotions get stirred. But sometimes the issue can be as simple as not being able to see the possibilities beyond what they currently have. To that end, Studio 23 created a series of alternate identities as talking points, not as finished designs. For inspiration we looked at meaningful fauna that were native to the area in the time of John Jay—ravens, wolves, wildcats, hawks—as well as more intangible concepts such as patriot, pioneer, and American.

Below is a result of one of those explorations—the John Jay Revolution, inspired by the fact that John Jay was a prominent figure during the American revolution. The concept uses a tattered “revolutionary flag” as a core part of the identity. The new name implies rebellion and uprising but also implies a sense of speed and motion. The primary typeface used is Franklin Gothic (which would have made Ben Franklin proud) and the color is retained from the existing identity. The modular identity, shown in various possible configurations, includes the name, flag, stylized “JJ”, and is flexible enough to accommodate not only sports teams but clubs and organizations affiliated with the school.

While this is only a concept intended to spark a discussion, we urge the folks at John Jay to move the project forward and hope that our efforts can help in some small way to make that happen. We’d love to come to a game and see the crowd proudly waving their flags. That would be, ahem, revolutionary.

John Jay Indian Alternatives

The Map is Not the Territory

The map–territory relation describes the relationship between an object and a representation of that object, as in the relation between a geographical territory and a map of it. Polish-American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski remarked that “the map is not the territory” and that “the word is not the thing,” encapsulating his view that an abstraction derived from something, or a reaction to it, is not the thing itself. Korzybski held that many people do confuse maps with territories, that is, confuse models of reality with reality itself.

Being the cartographer for the Leatherman Harriers Sunday Running group, I’ve seen first-hand the limitations of detailed maps in guiding runners through the woods. In an effort to aid navigation, I redesigned the trail map of one of our largest local preserves. This new diagrammatic map of Ward Pound Ridge Reservation can be printed legibly on a standard letter sheet yet it contains enough pertinent information for trail runners to find their way. While the scale is less accurate than the conventional trail map, the greater legibility offers users more ease while on the trail. Since much of the time, runners are following a predescribed trail, details of each path have been simplified in favor of increased legibility of intersection markers, which are more important for orientation and decision-making. The upshot of the lack of detail also means runners have more of a chance to be surprised along the way—always a plus.

Below are the two maps for comparison.

Building a Community, One Mile at a Time

In 2012, the leader of a local fledgling running group, the Leatherman Harriers, would send a weekly email to a group of around 25 runners to coordinate a weekly run, usually on Sundays. When the leader got injured, Studio 23 creative director, a member of the group, volunteered to take over the mailings temporarily.

“Once I started the mailings, I realized that I couldn’t always be counted on to be at my desk to send them when I wanted so I decided to set up a professional email list and allow runners to subscribe and unsubscribe as they wanted. Then, it became clear that instead of handing out maps before the run, it would be useful to allow runners to download their own maps of the course in case they wanted to run at different times. Thus, SundayRuns.org was born.

“The site forms the social hub of the Leatherman Harriers and includes over a hundred course maps, lists of upcoming regional races, postings of the weekly run with map download, helpful tips for running, geolocated course downloads, social media accounts updated weekly, Strava Club board, calendar subscriptions, and the email signup.

“One of the highlights of the week is the group photo taken at the start of the runs which is then posted on Facebook, Instagram, and on the site itself to give potential runners a visual of this excellent group. Since taking over duties, the emails now go out to over 600 runners weekly, we’ve developed several new local trail races, and the group has developed into an accomplished cadre of ultra runners who have tackled some of the most challenging trail races in the world. I look forward to sharing many more miles with them ahead.”

A great example of using online tools to build an offline community. See the site at SundayRuns.org

 

 

Architects Kroeger and Intinarelli become Kroeger Intinarelli Architects

When two successful architects merged their practices, it’s like a marriage. They wanted something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. We leveraged the identity of Kroeger Architects with its signature condensed font and blue color and built on that as Kroeger Intinarelli Architects, incorporating a subtle pencil line as a separator between the names.

We’ve developed a simple webpage for now to establish an online presence as well as business cards and other stationery. So far, we hear business is booming.

 

The University of the Arts Design Posters Revived

Between 1990 and 1992, a series of posters was created to announce lectures by famous designers and creative thinkers including Dan Friedman, M&Co., Matthew Carter, and Muriel Cooper. These simple diazo-process posters were never meant to last more than a week or so. Recently, we opened our archive and resurrected the series, or the ones we could find, rebuilding them in high-resolution.

We don’t have any plans to reissue these but we’ll keep that in mind if there’s interest. But for now, enjoy this blast from the past.

Muriel Cooper: Computers and Design
Victor Margolin: The Russian Revolution
Matthew Carter: Type and Technology
Tibor Kalman: M&Co.
Dan Friedman
Robert Koehl: Greek Myths
Doug Scott: Graphic Design in America

Monticello Asset Management Connects With New Clients

Monticello Asset Management doesn’t kid around. They knew what they wanted with regard to a website—clean, minimal, easy. They didn’t need a 300-page SEO website to drive customers. They have customers. But what they did need was an online presence to back up the information they’d give out in person. That’s what they got. Investors can access their online accounts through a link, prospects can contact the company for more information, and visitors can get bare-bones information and contact them to learn more.

Now that the site is up, we’re working with Monticello on an ongoing basis developing email campaigns and online ads to reach a larger audience.

Jean-Luc Briguet Launches New Portfolio Website

New York-based architect Jean-Luc Briguet needed a new corporate look that transitioned his company from one name to another. Studio 23 leveraged the classic look we had created for him a few years before and renamed his company, using his name. In addition, we created a fresh new website which highlights the best of his high-end work. Visitors can sort through projects or by room. Since many of his clients need apartment renovations in a room or two, this gives prospective clients the ability to see kitchen or bathroom renovations exclusively.

Since launching, we haven’t seen much of Jean-Luc. He’s been way too busy on those new projects.

 

Beautyterm is More Than Skin Deep

1200x700_beautytermLogoWhen startup company Beautyterm needed a brand that portrayed their core business—translation services for the beauty industry—they turned to Studio 23. We created an identity for the company that incorporated a traditional editor’s mark in a simple, elegant form. Next, we developed a brand strategy and applied it to their website, using images appropriate for the beauty industry.

While the site was successful at building a buzz in New York and in America, getting good page rank in Paris proved difficult. To help build their business, we created a second site in French using the .fr domain that was able to do the trick. In addition, we applied the identity to their Paris-based company, Beautélogie, and developed marketing collateral to help them get their message out.

Today the company is one of the more successful firms in the industry and we think that’s just beautiful.