Blanche A. Ames Elementary School Logo Identity
Showing your stripes!
CLIENT:
The Blanche A. Ames Elementary School in Easton Massachusetts is a recently constructed school built to merge multiple of the town’s elementary schools together into an ultramodern education center. In my senior year of high school, in conjunction with the Blanche Ames planning board, Principal, and Superintendent, I created a logo identity and mascot that would be used around the building.
OBJECTIVE:
The Blanche Ames planning board provided me with guidelines for their vision for the school’s logo. Firstly, the logo had to match the cartoon style of the town’s pre-existing elementary school logos. And second, the mascot itself had to be a tiger cub, to mirror the middle school and high school both having tiger mascots.
PROCESS:
After creating initial sketches on paper, the rough designs were transferred to my phone to start digitally painting out the appearance of the tiger cub. After this, the design was transferred yet again, this time into Adobe Illustrator to be vectorized and placed into an emblem. Taking inspiration from the color-coded interior design language featured in the school’s architectural schematic, a gradient representing all the school’s grade levels was incorporated into the background.
FEEDBACK:
Every step of the way, I created several iterations of the design for the planning board to review. Using this feedback, the trajectory of the tiger cub was shifted away from a geometric and bold form to something rounder and friendly. I selected the font “Bodo Amat” for its readability combined with its childlike appearance.
OUTCOME:
Through this iterative process of refining each element of the design, the school decided on the definitive version that they would go on to give the name “Stripes.” At the ribbon cutting ceremony, the logo was already being used all around. It was on the gym floor, posters, and shirts. In the classrooms, I noticed drawings of stripes created by students. Even though the school had only just opened, the logo was already leaving an impact.
