The Webb Schools
Rebrand
Since 1922, The Webb Schools have prepared students for lives of purpose and achievement through a rigorously innovative curriculum and focus on experiential learning within an immersive boarding environment. In the lead up to their centennial, Webb partnered with Kilter to rethink their brand from the ground up.
Encompassing separate boys and girls schools as well as the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology (the only accredited paleontology museum on a high school campus), Webb is a rich and complex institution whose core appeal can’t be reduced to a simple tagline. To fully tell Webb’s story we needed to craft an identity system as innovative and multi-faceted as Webb itself.
Services
Branding
Strategy
Copywriting
Art Direction
Web Design
Publication Design
Infographics
Motion Graphics
Video Production
The brand we created celebrates Webb’s unbounded character with a flexible and exuberant identity system. Central to the brand is a smart messaging platform that builds on the concept of “schools of thought” to highlight different core characteristics of the Webb experience. The visual language combines a contemporary color palette and layout system with illustrations and iconography that nod to Webb’s storied history. The resulting system serves as both a rallying point for the Webb community and a powerful differentiator in a competitive educational landscape. Over the course of our engagement, Webb managed to double the number of boarding applications, an impressive feat given the macro trend of declining applications for boarding schools nationwide.
As a tribute to the carved wood panels created by graduating seniors in Webb’s first few decades, we comissioned a series of woodcut-style illustrations from the artist Mitch Frey. By combining a traditional image-making technique with representations of modern student life these illustrations bridge Webb’s past and future.
The Webb logo features an illustration of a species of peccary—a prehistoric relative of the modern pig—that was disovered by a Webb student on a school paleontology dig. Our interpretation of the peccary is based on a mosaic by renowned artist and designer Millard Sheets that graces the Alf Museum’s facade.
We produced orginal video content for the Webb admission team to reach potential families unable to visit campus due to the ongoing pandemic.
Services
Branding
Strategy
Copywriting
Art Direction
Web Design
Publication Design
Infographics
Motion Graphics
Video Production
See more of our work!
Post Alarm
Challenge: rebrand a 65 year old company with innovation while not compromising their homegrown identity.
Walden School
Walden School nurtures a child’s natural wonder and personal dignity. Driven by these educational values, Kilter recently refreshed the Walden brand with an updated identity system and logo .
