School branding is a complicated, multifaceted process, and it’s inherently subjective. The perfect brand for one school might not be effective at all for another a few districts over. Finding the right school branding ideas is all about figuring out the individual school’s identity and personalizing the results. Trust us—as professionals, we know all about rebranding a school!
That being said, there are definitely a couple of routes that no school should take when it comes to branding, no matter its identity. SportsGraphics, your provider of outdoor padding, bleacher enclosures, and more, identifies a few below—alongside how to steer clear of them.
Going Short of Comprehensive
It’s a common misconception that all that’s needed to make a school brand is, say, a logo or a color scheme. While both of these are integral to any brand, they’re not a brand in and of themselves. Your school brand is the entirety of your image, composed of a variety of factors—your values, your institution’s personality, and, yes, your logo and color scheme. It’s greater than the sum of its parts.
Unfortunately, some school branding approaches only focus on one of these categories and fail to consider the whole picture, creating a brand that feels ingenuine and flat. A school branding professional can help you create an image that truly encompasses all of your school and that feels three-dimensional.
Not Standing Out Enough
We get it—there are only so many candidates for a good school mascot. But no matter what your mascot is or what your values are, you must find a way to make them unique. If your school brand fails to do this, you won’t catch the eye of potential new enrollments or inspire a collective sense of identity among the student body.
There are plenty of ways to create a true-to-your-school brand, but one of the best is nailing down specificity during the conceptualization process. “Hardworking” is a great value to try and convey in your brand, for example, but it’s a value held by pretty much every school. “Tenacity,” on the other hand, is much more specific, descriptive, and conveyable.
Indecisiveness
School branding overhauls must be few and far between; if they happen too often, you create the impression that your school is wishy-washy and incompetent—not exactly the message you want to send to students and staff! Get the school branding process done right the first time and hire a professional. You’ll reap a variety of benefits, as we cover in our school branding blog “Two Reasons to Hire the Pros for School Branding Help.”
SportsGraphics: Top-Notch Wall Mats, School Branding Help and More
Ready for an image revamp? We’ve got the expertise to help you craft your school’s new brand and the products to see it to its implementation. Give our Clarion office a call today at 1-800-257-6405.