Derwen College · Education
A specialist college whose ambition was invisible from the outside
Derwen College is one of the country's leading specialist colleges for young people with learning difficulties and disabilities. What people saw from the outside had stopped matching what the college had become, or who it needed to reach.
The problem
A specialist college had outgrown its identity. Externally, it looked dated; prospective families and commissioners could not see what Derwen had become.
See
The gap was not design. It was clarity. The college’s offer had evolved significantly, but its external language still described the organisation it used to be.
- Stakeholder research
- System mapping
- Competitive review
Shift
The college kept being described by what it provides. What actually moved people was what it makes possible: independence, work, a life worth wanting. We reframed everything around ambition rather than provision, which is how staff, students and parents already talked about it privately.
- Brand strategy
- Proposition development
- Audience insight
Build
A complete repositioning: proposition, identity, messaging and digital experience, designed so the college’s own team could run it without an agency on retainer.
- Visual identity
- Tone of voice
- Website
- Photography
- Guidelines & templates
Move
90% brand adoption across the organisation, run entirely by their own team. One clear, confident story to families, employers and commissioners.
- Team training
- Adoption support
- Handover
In their words
“From day one we knew that we had chosen the right company to take us forward onto the next stage of our evolution.”
Meryl GreenCEO, Derwen College
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