Hilltop Montessori Rebrand

Hilltop Montessori Rebrand

In this project, we were to create a new identity for the Hilltop Montessori School, which is located in Birmingham, Alabama. The challenge is to convey the vision of the Hilltop Montessori school in a way that would appeal to families, stakeholders,and faculty.

Research:

Hilltop Montessori School operates very differently from a typical American school. At the beginning of this project, it was important for me, as a designer, to first understand Hilltop Montessori’s core values and what sets them apart from traditional educational models. Gaining this understanding allowed me to translate their philosophy into a new logo identity. I began by researching the key differences between Hilltop Montessori’s values and those of conventional schools, including:

Traditional:

• Mainly group instruction; same age grouping

• Curriculum structured for child

• No organized program for self-care instruction left primarily to parents

• Teacher acts as primary enforcer of discipline

Montessori:

• Mainly individual instruction; mixed age grouping

• Child chooses own work

• Organized program for learning care of self and environment (polish shoes, sink)

• Environment and method encourage self discipline

Sketches:

After my research and a clearer understanding of the Hilltop Montessori brand, I began creating sketches for a logo identity. These were some of the sketches I came up with:

Logo Identity:

After completing my sketches and narrowing them down to the concepts that best represented Hilltop Montessori’s brand, I arrived at the final logo identity and lockup shown below:

Packaging System:

To complete the rebrand, I developed a cohesive packaging system that included business cards, letterheads, and envelopes, along with a series of mockups showcasing the Hilltop Montessori logo on items such as shirts, hats, water bottles, and more.