A bright and thriving rebrand for Brooklands Technical College

Brooklands Technical College is one of Surrey’s largest providers of technical training and further education. With a campus in Weybridge and one in Ashford, along with 5 commercial entities, the college was in need of an updated identity to align with the new executive team’s vision for the college. On the lead up to the rebrand we performed a research and engagement phase with a large range of stakeholders including; governors, students, staff, local councils, businesses and feeder schools. This then informed the direction of the branding and the positioning of the college, ensuring the look, feel and tone of the new identity was ‘on-brand’.

A recent £45m investment went into the college, creating a purpose built secure and attractive learning environment, to focus on a central quad with greatly enhanced student facilities. Alongside this they had a glowing review from Ofsted, reinforcing that there was a bright and thriving future for the college. This impacted the research and design process. The new vision for Brooklands Technical College is ‘An inclusive inspirational centre for lifelong learning’, and the mission is ‘Develop a skilled workforce within an inclusive inspirational environment, to help build our community for the future.’

The chosen concept was called ‘Inclusive’, and the identity uses a hexagonal shape split into six equal segments, symbolising the equal importance and value that Brooklands Technical College places on each of the subject areas it teaches. Using ‘sector’ instead of education sector titles for the courses makes it much easier for the students and parents to understand and engage with the college. Each sector has an individual bright colour, with supporting patterns and textures linked to the the sector courses. The logo has flexibility through the hexagon being able to grow out when a full colour background is required, or the coloured sections to be replaced with the textures to create a more dynamic design, such as in the recruitment campaign. The hexagon is also free to rotate, depending on which sector is being highlighted. The tagline ‘Let’s do this’ again is inclusive, supportive and positive – representing what Brooklands Technical College is all about.

Following in the footsteps of the progressive natured college, we explored and created Al inspired visual representations of the letter ‘B’, using elements that reflected each of the sectors i.e. paint splashes to represent creative sector. This is further stretching the use of the brand, these have been used as section dividers in the prospectus. In addition to this, we created a series of logos for the commercial entities of the college. These take on the hexagon with a cut out shape, relating to the individual sector. This creates harmony alongside the Brooklands branding, whilst still standing out as their own brand.

After the rebrand was completed we have continued to work with Brooklands Technical College as their Creative Partner. Supporting them by rolling out new collateral including signage, presentations, hoarding, prospectus, leaflets, banners, social media, digital ads and more.

We have and continue to work closely with the college, helping to give them the best possible brand impact. The new brand represents the college perfectly as a bright, positive and inclusive environment, giving students the tools they need to thrive and succeed.