Rebranding St Patrick’s School

St Patrick’s School is a Catholic integrated, multicultural school catering for boys & girls from Year 1 to Year 8. The school is one of the oldest in Auckland, founded by a group of Fencibles in 1848 who arrived on the ship ‘Clifton’. It was taken over in 1904 by the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions and continues to have a strong Mission ethos today with a close association to the Mission Sisters.

The Brief

St Patrick’s School approached us to create a consistent modern look in order to attract new pupils. It was important to them that the history of St Patrick’s School was reflected in the developed concepts by retaining the historical elements found in the older brand.

The old branding.

The Concepts

The two following concepts were presented to the board.

Concept One:

In this concept the edges of the shield have been smoothed out, and the overall shape simplified to create a modern look which is supported by a strong, bold uppercase font. The symbol from the current logo has been reworked so the ‘P’ and the ‘S’ are clearer and easily identified, while still retaining the interlocking elements of the original icon.

Concept Two:

This concept takes a more traditional approach particularly in the shield shape, the font, and the ribbon containing ‘fidelis’. The cross symbol from the RNDM founding order has been incorporated to represent the charism (prayer, community and service) the school strives to live by.

The Development Stage

Concept one was chosen to be developed to the final stage. In this stage we explored several adjustments with the tagline and established date. The motif in the shield was also tweaked a little.

The Collateral

After developing the logo to the final stage we created the supporting brand collateral and signage. The result was a clean and fresh look and feel, featuring images of children’s faces from varied ethnicities. Yellow and blue was added to the colour palette, and a descriptor developed to represent what St Patrick’s school is all about — ‘Quality Education in our Catholic Character’.

Stationery, an information booklet, 2-fold DL flyer and certificates were developed with the new brand.

Here are some final words from Carmel.

“St Patrick’s School has been educating the children of Panmure and surrounding areas for nearly 170 years. The time had come to update how we presented ourselves to the school and wider community. We had been exploring a range of options when an email arrived introducing No9 Marketing & Design. On further investigation we liked what we saw!

Working with the team from No9 has been great. They took the time to get to know the people, the site, the local situation; recognising our history and the strategic goals driving the process. No question or suggestion from us has been too trivial or insignificant. We never felt rushed to make decisions — time for us to consult and reflect was a ‘given’ part of the relationship. Yet, I was impressed with how promptly No9 actioned decisions once they were made.

Our new look respects our long and proud history, as well as being fresh and inviting. Thank you.”

- Carmel Bullôt, Principal of St Patrick’s School

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