Private School in Washington

Challenges

The interesting thing about this school is the contrast. They're one of the most academically rigorous in the state, but the culture is the opposite of what you'd expect from a school with that reputation. Their philosophy is well-rounded, outdoorsy, a little hippie. Kids do sports, art, and a signature program where most of the learning happens out in the woods on their own campus. The brand already had character, but it needed a real system to pull it together and flex across applications. The site was a different kind of problem. Too many audiences, too much information, no real hierarchy. Prospective families, current families, faculty, alumni, all on the same pages. The work had to hold both sides of the school at once, the rigor and the warmth, and build something that actually feels like the place.

Design System

We pulled the colors straight from the school. Their existing greens, emerald and hunter, plus their bright yellow as a secondary. From there I extended the palette using the geography of the campus, browns from the woods and the dirt, blues from the sky and the lakes nearby. Everything sits on a warm cream that grounds it. The point was for the digital brand to feel like the campus, not just talk about it.

Type, icons, and a full illustration system filled out the rest. The mascot is an owl, so we built a vector owl with a handful of poses that can move around the brand, playful but not childish. A set of tree and treeline illustrations ties everything back to the woods, and some hand-drawn maps give the site a real sense of place. The illustrations are where most of the personality lives.

Messaging

The copy leads with the experience. The campus, the day-to-day, the way the place actually feels. Rankings and test scores sit underneath the writing, not on top. The voice is warm, a little wry, with some swing to it. Serious school, doesn't take itself too seriously.

Site Architecture

The old site was carrying way too much. Marketing pages, parent resources, faculty info, all on the same domain, all fighting for the same space. We split it down the middle. The public site now holds the high-level story, who the school is, what they do, why you'd want to go there. Everything operational, current students, current families, faculty resources, moved into the internal portal where it actually belongs. That single decision opened the site up more than anything else.

Website

The site is designed to feel like a campus visit. Photography does most of the work, real students, real classrooms, real moments outside, with none of the staged feel that private school sites usually fall into. The homepage opens with short video clips and a set of rotating statement lines, setting the pace right away. From there the page walks you through the campus, then the region, then out to the school's global programs, the same physical-to-global arc you'd get on an actual tour. Motion is used carefully, soft scroll reveals, a flying owl, tree illustrations peeking in at the edges. The cream palette gives the photography and color room to land. Navigation was rebuilt around the new audience split, so a prospective family gets where they need to go in a couple of clicks instead of seven.

View Site

Environmental Displays

Designed screen layouts for the monitors placed around campus. Templates pull directly from the brand system, same type, palette, and illustration language, so they read as a continuation of the website. Layouts flex across use caseWe designed a set of templates for the monitors placed around campus. Same type, palette, and illustration set as the website, so they read as a continuation of the brand instead of a separate thing. The layouts flex across whatever the school needs, event posters, student spotlights, athletics, daily schedule, visitor welcomes. The playful side of the brand stays intact, since these screens live in hallways students walk past every day.s: event announcements, student work, athletics, daily schedule, visitor welcomes. The playful tone stays intact, since these screens live in hallways students walk past every day.

Internal Portal

The internal portal got skinned to match the new brand, but with restraint. It's a dense product, schedules, grades, forms, daily logistical stuff, so the design leans on clean type, strong contrast, and tight spacing. The brand still shows up in places like nav, buttons, and accent colors, but legibility comes first. This isn't where the storytelling lives, and the design doesn't pretend otherwise.

Private School in Washington

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