School district adopts new logo design
The Whitefish School Board of Trustees on Nov. 8 approved a new set of logos as part of a brand redesign for the district and its schools.
The board unanimously approved the logos with Trustee Marguerite Kaminski abstaining from the vote. The next step for the redesign is to develop a brand guide for the school to maintain consistency throughout the district’s schools and organizations, according to the district.
Wheelie Creative, along with design students at Whitefish High School and Whitefish Independent High School, designed the emblem logos and the character logos for the re-branding, with the goal of creating a consistent, professional and updated visual consistency for the district. The school board in June hired Wheelie Creative and public relations firm Buckshot Enterprises to establish a more defined brand and improve communications in the community. Prior to developing the logos, Wheelie Creative performed a brand audit and created a development plan for the district’s logos, overall look and online presence.
The main logo for the district is now a green badge-shaped emblem with a banner reading “Whitefish” and “School District” appearing below it. Above the banner is a stencil-like rendering of Big Mountain.
Superintendent Heather Davis Schmidt said the district is in the sixth round of the design process, which included a core group that worked with Wheelie and numerous recommendations and changes from district staff and students. The old logo, currently on the school district website, is a white circle with “Whitefish School District” spelled out with an image of an unspecific mountain in the middle of the circle.
Each school also has its own new character logo. The high school has a slightly altered version of the current Bulldog mascot, the middle school has a younger version of the high school Bulldog, and Muldown Elementary, which traditionally used the “Mully” character as a mascot, now has a boy and girl version of the character.
“We thought it would be good to help align to the characters of the rest of the school district by adding a bulldog puppy and flipping the “M” to be a “W” that matched what we’re using,” Davis Schmidt said of the Mulldown mascot.
One aspect of the design is a slightly different font style for the “s” in Whitefish, which calls back to the original depot sign and has been used by several businesses to allude to the town’s tradition.
Whitefish Mountain Resort and Whitefish Convention and Visitor Bureau are among the businesses that use the different font.
Trustee Dave Fern questioned the choice of Big Mountain as the emblem’s background, as opposed to another feature like Whitefish Lake.
“I’m looking at the mountains — that’s OK — but why that and why not something else? What makes [the mountains] the best?” Fern said.
Davis Schmidt said choosing the mountain was a matter of consistency with how the town as a whole is marketed. In addition, Big Mountain is a visual landmark for Whitefish and very often associated with the school, she said.
“When we take images of our schools, the mountains are always a strong element of those images, whereas the lake is not really visible from the schools,” Davis Schmidt said.
Trustee Nick Polumbus said all of the logos have been thoroughly discussed and redesigned, and he’s satisfied with the final result.
“I think the process has been really well vetted and very inclusive,” he said. “It seems like it’s taken awhile, but I think it’s time well taken.”