The Webb Schools

Webb Schools Phone Mockup with Illustration and Design by Kilter

BRAND IDENTITY

The Webb Schools

OVERVIEW

Kilter crafted a declarative new brand identity and messaging system for The Webb Schools to help usher in their centennial and set them up for success as they moved into their next hundred years.

SERVICES

Branding
Strategy
Copywriting
Illustration
Web Design
Publication Design
Infographics
Motion Graphics
Video Production

CONTEXT

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. 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.

The Webb Schools various printed materials designed by Kilter

THE ASSIGNMENT

Webb tasked Kilter with the challenge of rethinking their brand from the ground up to create a new identity that celebrated their illustrious past while positioning them as innovative and forward looking institution.

The Webb Schools mobile mockups of website designed by Kilter

OUR SOLUTION

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.

The Webb Schools Viewbook Spread A designed by Kilter

The Webb Schools Viewbook Spread B designed by Kilter

The Webb Schools Road Piece Spread C designed by Kilter

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 Schools Messaging and Illustration 2 by Kilter

The Webb Schools Messaging and Illustration 5 by Kilter

The Webb Schools Messaging and Illustration 1 by Kilter

The Webb Schools Messaging and Illustration 3 by Kilter

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.

In 2020 we produced orginal video content for the Webb admission team to reach potential families unable to visit campus due to the ongoing pandemic.

From day one of our partnership, Kilter immersed themselves in our school culture, and through gaining a deep understanding of our distinctive qualities, they applied their immense creativity to developing a brand and system that has taken Webb to a new level.”

Taylor Stockdale
Head of Schools, The Webb Schools

To generate excitement among admitted students, we crafted a dynamic welcome video that highlighted the qualities that make the Webb experience so unique as well as a swag-filled welcome kit.