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BACKSTORY

Challenge

Designing a treasured school asset that would win hearts and donor support

In 2019, Stratford Hall was getting ready to celebrate two decades with a gala the following November. It was the perfect opportunity to commemorate this huge milestone with a powerful keepsake the entire school community could cherish and gift to the people who lift it up. Working closely with Stratford Hall’s advancement team, we explored ways to capture the school’s founding story and recount its history with an eye to the future.

Our challenge was to craft a book that could inspire parents and donors to continue to support and sustain Stratford Hall. It would be a rallying cry for current parents to increase engagement with the school’s activities, purpose, and fundraising. On top of that, this could end up being just the right marketing tool that would attract and recruit families, as well as a source of inspiration to students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

How could we make this read evoke pride and optimism in the next generation, so they can make a meaningful contribution to the world?

There were risks, as there often are. Would target readers question whether the project was money well spent? How delicate would it be to discuss the more difficult stories and challenging times, which some people were anxious to unravel?

Solution

An elegant and richly illustrated account of events that is optimistic, inspiring, and sparks pride

It’s a story not without moments of crisis — and we didn’t plan on shying away from them — but for this independent school that defies tradition, all is told through a lens of optimism, inspiration, and ultimately pride. These three themes, and the values Stratford Hall embodies, were proven out in stories of the school’s grounding in the neighbourhood, its globally recognized IB program, its strong reputation for academics, its athletics program, and its commitment to developing global citizens. We envisioned a book that was compelling, elegantly designed, richly illustrated and truly unforgettable.

We used Stratford Hall’s emblematic colours and fonts to guide the design, landing on a style that is highly legible, contemporary, and truly breathes the school’s brand and spirit.

The final layout also features a clever graphic treatment, where diagonal shapes are used to visualize the numerous paths available to students. Much like the chapter structure, the lines are used in the book as wayfinders, which tie the design together in a modern and practical way.

Result

A sweet ode to Elaine Lee by her son

Shortly after the book was released, Harrison Lee, son of one of Stratford Hall’s four founders, left a heartwarming Mother’s Day shout out for his mom on LinkedIn, expressing how proud and inspired he was by the sacrifice she made to establish the school.

It’s little moments like these that remind us how important it is to celebrate stories of our life and work, and how much pride they can instill in the next generation.

Here is Elaine Lee with her copy of Unapologetically Stratford Hall. Read Harrison’s sweet LinkedIn post here.

One more cool thing...

The 10 Learner Profiles

As an International Baccalaureate World school, Stratford Hall strongly believes in the IB Learner Profile, which is built on 10 attributes representing students who are: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators, principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective.

When our writer, Katie Nanton, first visited Stratford Hall and saw the 10 IB Learner Profiles painted around the school’s atrium, she immediately proposed that the book be structured around these key traits. Sure enough, 18 months later, that’s how it turned out.

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