FNEI Branding

Assignment:

The Foundation for New Education Initiatives, Inc. seeks to enhance student achievement and community engagement in support of The Parent Academy and other educational initiatives of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Public education is a public/private enterprise. It can succeed only with involvement and resources from all sectors of the economy and all segments of society. Their vision is o become a thriving foundation capable of supporting all of Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ strategic priorities. The creative task placed on us was to design a logo that captured all of this in a simplistic solution that puts education first visually without being too literal. Also, the entire name had to be included in the design of the primary version.

Task:

Create a new logo design for theFoundation for New Education Initiatives (FNEI) and a supporting Brand Identity product line that communicates knowledge, wisdom and motivation.

Solution:

The previous logo was just a text solution, with no distinction or personal connection to education. We introduced several graphic items that we felt symbollically conveyed learning. We finally got the choices down to 2 options. The client settled on the design we titled THE OWL. Historically, the owl symbol is used to symbolize education and it is often graduation mascot. Many cultures associated owl with the following: intelligence, brilliance, wisdom, power and knowledge. The idea can be traced to Greece and Greek mythos. The city-state of Athens was known for its scholar, libraries, and schools. (Plato, Socrates, etc). The matron deity of the city was Athena goddess of wisdom and her animal was the Owl. When the roman empire came to power they assimilated a number of Greek gods/goddesses. Athena became Minerva and the symbolism of the “wise” owl continued. Our design uses an owl drawn with a single continuous line and 2 dots for the eyes. We felt that this symbolizes education tracking and continuity, while also representing the journey of students through the educational process.

We worked diligently in teams, trying to nail the right graphic. We went through geometric shapes, puzzles, and anything that spoke educational. We got the best feedback from the arc and the owl design. After going through 20 owls, we got it down to 4, then finally down to one. We presented them, and client declared the owl solution the winner.

The branding worked perfectly as we created and implemented the solution into large scale visuals, including the office hallway.

We provided a branding guideline book that could be distributed digitally to every organization under their umbrella. This was to insure continuity across all platforms and mediums. The logo uses a 4-spot-color palette with colors than are clear in visibility at any scale. The single drawn line owl is created from the colors orange, blue, and green on a continuous clean path. The text has the blue on the first letters highlighting the official initials.

2024 UPDATE: At the client’s request, we modified the logo to stack the initials vertically. Here’s the new version.

FNEI also requested design/logo elements for two other programs. The STEAM labs, created to ensure our community has the next generation of inventors, explorers, innovators, artists and leaders, and The Green Fund, to build a culture of sustainability and resilience, which is inspired by a mission to conserve resources and take care of the natural environment that surrounds us

Client feedback:

The ACC team goes the extra mile to ensure that they really understand their client’s needs to deliver a superb result. Their ability to create messaging and collaterals that are specific to certain constituencies, making the message relevant to the potential customer, has proven to be unmatched.

Ann Pierce Stith

Executive Director, Foundation for New Education Initiatives (FNEI)

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FNEI Branding

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Ann Pierce Stith