Understand

Cotesbach Educational Trust (CET) is a charity focusing on the environment, the arts and heritage. Since CET was established in 2009, community projects grew, and as a result in 2012 they won funding from Heritage Lottery Fund. CET wanted to use this award to restore their Grade II listed Schoolhouse. But first, they needed some help rebranding, this is where Nifty Thinking came in. Step one: create a new brand which communicates the essence of the organisation. Step two: deploy this on printed materials and building signage. Step three: provide CET with a Brand Guide for distribution to their stakeholders.

Think

Before our meeting with CET, it was apparent that we were likeminded- community driven, sustainability and environmentally conscious. We were already really excited about this rebranding project and once we met with the Project Director and her dog Montie, our feelings were affirmed; we were a perfect fit.

Phase one of getting to know CET involved a tour around the Cotesbach Estate. This gave us the opportunity to get a feel for their culture, personality and values. During this tour, we were privileged enough to see the building plans and designs. These insights gave us a richer understanding about what CET wanted to achieve in rebranding.

Deliver

Now confident that we understood CET’s vision for the future, its demographic and its limitations, Nifty’s Creative Team got to work brainstorming for logo ideas. We needed to create a logo that would fit their rural setting and emphasis on heritage, but also something to communicate their focus on innovative curriculum within the community.

During the design phase, we concluded the emphasis should be the windows of the old Schoolhouse. Using contemporary typefaces and pastel colour palettes, we made the brand feel modern, yet in-keeping with it’s heritage.

Reference

“Guys, resounding thumbs up from the board. Love the roundel design – but we would like to keep schoolhouse image for future promotional things. Brilliant work thank you”

Tatty Scott
Project Director