Visual Identity / Branding - MSJ

Visual Identity & Branding - MSJ Milperra

When I arrived at Mount Saint Joseph in Milperra in January 2018 I had no idea what I was walking into. Through listening I soon discovered a that there was a huge need for a re-brand for the school's visual identity. The logo had various fonts used and there was no colour consistency or brand guidelines to go by. Josephites often reference the Mary MacKillop's saying "Never see a need without doing something about it". This originally comes from what Julian Tenison Woods wrote to Sisters in 1867: "Do all the good they can and never see an evil without trying how they may remedy it. … This is their mission… The religious must do any good that they can, and make their charity all-embracing." (Woods, Rules for the Institute of St Joseph, 1867, par. 13.)

Taking this to heart, I kept listening and praying through the process. Any and every design project should be done with a purpose. The classic three W's always come into play:
WHY: is this being created? / who is it serving? / what's the purpose?
WHO: is this for / target market?
WHAT: needs to be created? logo, print, signage, web etc

Through listening, I came to understand more of the history of the school, the Josephite charism and what the entire community needed in relation to connection, communication and consistency. With prayer as my guide, I worked with the community and relevant staff. Firstly creating the revised logo, brand guidelines, social media platforms and all artwork followed this. We have found that this consistency in visual messaging has created connection through the entire community and effectively tells the 'who we are' story for MSJ.

Induimini Arma Lucis - Put on the Armour of Light

Some items developed include:
- Logo re-design + Identity Guidelines. Including font and colour selection to help suppliers maintain consistency across various media.
- Design Elements / patterns for various items such as google slides and advertising.
- The guidelines and graphic elements were then applied to: Uniform, Signage, Flags, Stationary, Google Slides, email signature, Diaries, badges, banners, advertising and various other items.
- Social media was also set-up as part of the re-brand. This was created based on listening to how the community wanted us to create connection. By doing a survey and asking many questions, we found that the students clearly wanted instagram as a preferred platform. In 2018 it was rare for schools to use instagram as a platform. But we went with it, trusting in our listening. We let the students lead us and it was incredibly successful. As a school we soon found that many other schools were following our lead. It was wonderful to see listening and vulnerability lead to relationship, growth, transformation, enrolments, and connection...

~ Jane