Park Day School needed a new visual identity, including a logo rebrand and a design for its new mascot, The Night Herons.
School rebrands can be tricky. Alumni, current families, faculty, and staff often feel a strong nostalgic connection to the existing design. This was true at Park Day School — many community members loved the existing logo, but there were concerns that it didn’t feel modern and wouldn’t appeal to a middle school audience. Also, the typography was very difficult to read at small sizes. So, we needed to determine whether a total rebrand or more of a refresh was in order.
Our initial design concepts
We explored several distinct design directions in our first round of logo rebrand designs. We wanted the new logo to reflect what is special and unique about Park Day and help it stand apart from other independent schools in the area. Park Day is a pioneer in progressive education, and its connection to the community and environment is integral to the school. When developing these designs, we thought about growth, nurturing, and, of course, learning.
The new Park Day School logos
As we discussed previously, there are times when a logo or visual identity refresh will serve a company better than a complete redesign. Ultimately, it was decided that the apple really couldn’t be topped as a symbol of growth, nurturing, and education. By evolving the apple in the logo and pairing it with more contemporary and legible typography, we could maintain a connection to the school’s heritage.
Love Learning is more than just a tagline for the school; fostering curiosity and a love for learning is central to the school’s mission and ethos. So, in the middle of the apple, there is a heart.
We made this animation for the reveal of the new logo to the school community, highlighting the evolution of the old logo into the new design.
What about the Night Herons?
Once the direction for the new logo, color palette, and typography had been determined for the school, we needed to finalize the design of the mascot and logo for the sports teams. One of the challenges when designing a mascot for a middle school is to find the right balance between cuteness and aggressiveness — a muscle-bound Night Heron didn’t feel like the right approach here, but we wanted to make sure the logo was something that middle school students would feel excited about wearing.
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