Montessori Nosipho

Want to be a kid again? We were lucky to be given that task in the creative process of branding and creating a website for Montessori Nosipho, a small nursery school focused on personalised education. Using the concept of a crayon box, we created a vibrant and colourful brand that expressed the core qualities of the school.

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Client: Montessori Nosipho

Montessori Nosipho is a small nursery school focused on creating a nurturing and stimulating educational environment for its young learners. All teaching is done on a one-to-one basis where teachers follow the needs of each child individually. This family-style environment provides a unique educational experience for children from toddlers to 6-year olds.

Services:

Branding, Design, Website Design and Development

Discovery:

Montessori Nosipho wanted to brand and promote the school as an accessible and nurturing educational environment for young children. An online strategy was identified as essential to increasing the school's online profile and to generate credibility.

Given Nicework's knowledge and experience in online strategy as well as our impressive portfolio of branding work, we were tasked to achieve Montessori Nosipho's project goals.

Brief:

• Brand the school to reflect their welcoming and playful environment, while also expressing their informed and responsible educational approach
• Create a website to increase the school's online profile and credibility

Challenges:

• To create a playful creative brand that also expresses credibility and a responsible educational approach

Tackling the brief:

During the initial creative phases we identified the need for the brand to be fun to appeal to young children. We rolled up our sleeves, dusted off our old crayons and became kids again. A starting point was the examination of children's doodles and drawings that are one of the primary expressions of a child's development. That creative expression also exemplifies what Montessori tries to nurture in their young learners.

The design concept for the brand was developed around the image of a pack of coloured crayons. The colour bars incorporated into both the website and branding design jut out as if coming out of a pack of crayons. These crayon colour bars are visually appealing to children and reflect the diverse range of colour used in Montessori teaching, as well as the fun atmosphere of the school.

At Montessori, creating constructive channels of communication is seen as essential to a child's development. Nicework used this concept in the logo design where a speech bubble encapsulates the school's main letters "M" and "N". A rounded typeface is used throughout the branding to appeal to young children and reflect the holistic approach of Montessori Nosipho.

It was also important to reflect the school as a credible and responsible institution. Simplicity of design was essential to relay information about the school quickly and easily. Lines and layout were kept clean to balance the playfulness of the brand and to provide trustworthiness to the creative treatment.

Result:

• A happy client and happy kids
• An excuse for Nicework to use crayons again
• A brand and website that balances playful design elements with a more credible profile
• The school continues to grow, they have acquired a new teacher and currently teach 12 very happy kids