King Edward’s School
case study
The challenge: how could one of the country’s most prestigious independent schools retain its distinctive identity in an increasingly competitive education environment?
A proud heritage
Founded in Birmingham in the mid-16th century, King Edward’s is one of the country’s most prestigious independent day schools for boys. It grew alongside the city of Birmingham and educates some of its most famous sons.
Edward Burne-Jones, JRR Tolkein, Nobel Prize-winners Sir John Vane and Maurice Wilkins, comedian and conservationist Bill Oddie and contemporary novelists Lee Childs and Jonathan Coe all figure amongst its alumni. King Edward’s boys are all individuals from diverse backgrounds who go on to achieve considerable success all over the world.
Refreshing history
The school’s historic crest was key to its identity. Instantly recognisable, it was at the heart of its brand personality. Using this as the core element, we developed a set of colour palettes and typography that harmonised with the crest and enhanced the rich heritage of the school.
As part of a brand refresh exercise for the School, we also developed a brand hierarchy and stand-alone identities that are used for specific audiences, such as the Trust, the Guild Society and Old Edwardians.
A consistent identity
We then designed communications material, including reports, newsletters and brochures, for both the main School and its subsidiary brands to ensure the brand was consistently applied wherever it was seen.
All printed material has an high-end, editorial look and feel with a focus on quality photography featuring pupils, parents, staff and alumni.
Old Edwardians
The Old Edwardians Association (OEA) was founded in 1883 and plays a valuable role in the school’s legacy. The Association unites and supports pupils, both old and current.
The Old Edwardians regularly communicated with ‘old boys’, so we developed a stand-alone identity for the Association which reflected the overall King Edward’s brand and the heritage of the school. These publications helped the Association celebrate alumni success, mark important life events and, most importantly, foster an inclusive environment of which every past pupil would be proud.
Assisted Places Campaign
The AP100 campaign was designed and developed to encourage ex-students, stakeholders and the community to join in fundraising to support places at King Edward’s for 100 boys who had passed the 11+ but could not otherwise afford to come to the school.
We developed an identity and communications material for the Assisted Places campaign that featured stories from old and current pupils, described the campaign’s goals and showed the positive impact of the fund on those pupils who had benefited from an assisted place.
Material included event invites, fundraising reports, infographics, exhibition stands and wall graphics within the school to showcase the success of the campaign and to inspire fundraisers.
The Chronicle
The Chronicle is an annual publication highlighting key events, achievements, comings and goings from the school year. It is provided to pupils as a keepsake and something they could look back on in years to come.
