Denver Public Schools (DPS) approached Anabliss to refresh their historic 1970′s logo. DPS had recently developed a new tagline, “Discover a World of Opportunity,” that supported the progressive vision DPS has in transforming the lives of Denver’s children. They wanted, as part of the logo refresh, to integrate this new positioning with the identity.
“We were thrilled at the opportunity to breathe new life into such an important institution in the Denver community,” said Matt Coffman, founder of Anabliss. “Our assignment was to refresh the essential elements of the logo while retaining the brand recognition the logo had established over the last 35+ years. Determining what elements to keep within the new solution was an essential discussion in the development process.”
The new DPS logo integrates the tagline Discover a World of Opportunity and removes the repetitive “Denver” used in the previous mark. While in one DPS focus group we noticed an employee with the DPS logo embroidered on his shirt. The logo had to be 5 inches tall for the type and graphics to be legible – It was extremely validating to see the need for a more usable logo. The new identity can now be used on smaller-scale applications and has a Spanish version that can be used in Spanish-specific communities.
“It has been so exciting to launch a refreshed logo for Denver Public Schools,” Said DPS’s Director of Marketing. “It was very important to us to honor the history and tradition associated with our former logo, while giving our identify a modern and approachable feel that our families can relate to now and in the future. Based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback we’ve heard, we feel our updated logo does just that!”
In addition to the usage challenges, the DPS logo had progressed without the guidance of a brand manager or corporate standards. As a result, the identity components lacked consistency or any real adherence to brand standards. This, in turn, diminishes the credibility and professionalism of such an institution. Anabliss was able to create a brand standards guide and a logo toolkit which will allow key users and outside vendors to implement the new logo with fidelity and consistency.
Anabliss is excited about the potential of the new identity and is currently working on additional collateral to help re-establish the credibly and recognition of the Denver Public Schools brand in the Denver community.
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Glad to see my tax dollars in action here. My kids’ teachers don’t have enough paper in their classrooms, but DPS has money to re-brand the logo. I like your work, however, if that carries any weight.
You truly did “breathe new life” into the previous logo, which had grown stale. The balance you achieved between maintaining the brand’s key elements of recognition and creating something fresh is brilliant.
I appreciate how you focused on versatility with the new logo, making the type bigger in relation to the image, so that this logo will remain legible even if it’s itty bitty!
Keep up the great work!