Unit 40 Rebrand - Imagine This! Marketing Group

overview

We love working on school branding and identity systems here at Imagine This! So when our friends at Effingham Unit 40 asked us for branding help, we were excited to hit the ground running. The school district had developed a comprehensive strategic plan complete with a newly formalized mission, vision, and values but lacked the visual identity system to bring it all together under a unified brand.

We kicked off the discovery stage, by meeting with a committee of stakeholders comprised of administration, faculty, school board members, and students as they shared their vision for the future. We explored a variety of concepts and directions with the group, starting with over a dozen unique concepts. Together we narrowed the field and refined every detail to create a academic identity system that unifies all schools in the district and empowers community pride and tradition.

services

Little Hearts Early Childhood Center

Little Hearts Early Childhood Center is a self-funded, district-owned childcare and preschool center that helps district employees and staff by providing access to affordable, quality child care and preschool. We created a companion brand that fits right at home with the rest of the Unit 40 Brand family but with softer styling, unique to Little Hearts.

Updated Athletic Branding

The next step for the district branding was to update the existing athletic logos. We recreated and simplified Effingham High School’s existing Flaming Heart logo and modernized the Oval E with sharper edges and fewer lines to better align with the new academic branding. We also created an all-new, original Mustang logo for Junior High Athletics.

Bringing new spirit to a unique name

Illinois is home to many unique high school mascots, with Effingham High School’s Flaming Hearts being no exception. The origins of the name go back to the 1930’s when Effingham was the official US center of population and often referred as the “Heart of the USA.” Later a Chicago sportswriter started referring to them as the Flaming Hearts due to their “on-fire” playing style, and the name stuck. We wanted to lean into the unique and beloved name by creating a fun new minor league-inspired spirit mascot.