Bute House School

The client

Bute House Preparatory School is an educational organisation with heritage, community and care at its core. Its identity has long been centred around a distinctive tree motif symbolising growth, learning and foundations.

Over time, the existing logo became difficult to use across modern communications, particularly in smaller digital formats. This project focused on evolving the identity in a way that retained recognition, honoured the school’s heritage, and introduced greater clarity, flexibility and confidence for future use.

The brief

The brief was clear: this was not a full rebrand, but a considered evolution of the existing visual identity. The refreshed logo and wider brand system needed to feel unmistakably like Bute House, with staff, parents and pupils able to immediately connect with it and feel proud.

The work needed to improve clarity and consistency across key applications including digital platforms, social media, presentations and admissions materials, while keeping the warmth and meaning of the original identity intact.

A mock-up showing the front page and spread of the Bute House square print for their 7+ assessment day.

Our approach

We started with a brand review to understand how the identity was working in real-world use, then developed a refreshed system that retained what people recognised while strengthening clarity and consistency across modern communications.

Refining the tree

The tree remained central to the identity and became the core focus of the refresh. We reworked its structure to address the logo’s practical issues while retaining its warmth and symbolic meaning. The leaf pattern was simplified and given more space to breathe, with larger shapes and clearer spacing improving legibility at smaller sizes. Branch structures were refined to create a calmer, more balanced silhouette, resulting in a bolder icon that translates more effectively across digital platforms.

Building a flexible visual language

From the refined logo, we developed a broader visual language to bring cohesion across touchpoints. The leaf shape became a core design element, used as a graphic motif, a framing device for photography, and as a variety of supporting accents. This created a system that feels unified without becoming repetitive, providing a consistent visual thread across both print and digital.

A mock-up of a Bute House billboard on the side of a bicycle shed.

Typography & colour

Alongside the logo evolution, we reviewed the typography and colour. The existing palette was strongly associated with Bute House and was mostly retained, but clearer structure was introduced around how colours should be used. This gave the internal marketing team a easy to follow framework for consistent application.

Typography followed the same considered approach. After testing a wide range of serif and sans serif pairings, the work reinforced the strength of the school’s existing typefaces, retaining the heritage serif alongside a highly legible sans serif, supported by clearer hierarchy and usage guidance.

A mock-up of social graphics on social media platform 'Instagram' for Bute House.

Asset rollout

To support rollout, we created a comprehensive suite of brand assets and guidelines designed for real-world use. This included the master logo and supporting Learning Powers logo, brand guidelines, presentation templates, social media assets, digital wallpapers, stationery and admissions materials, alongside supporting documentation to help the internal team apply the identity consistently.

“The brand refresh process with The Graphic Design House was smooth, collaborative, and genuinely enjoyable from start to finish. We greatly appreciated the open flow of communication. They listened to us, entertained our ideas, and offered professional design guidance throughout. The result is a brand that feels true to our history and identity as a school, while being cleaner, more consistent, and reflective of the modern life of Bute House today”

Isabella Gilmour
Marketing & Communications Manager
Bute House

Results

The refreshed identity honours Bute House’ heritage while strengthening clarity, flexibility and confidence for the future. By evolving rather than reinventing, the result remains recognisable and rooted in the school’s values, with a robust brand system designed to work across modern communications and support long-term consistency.

Ready to refresh your identity?

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Evolve your identity without
losing what matters

If your organisation has a trusted identity that isn’t quite working across today’s communications, we can help you refine it with care. From logo development and brand guidelines to templates, admissions materials and digital assets, we build flexible systems that keep recognition strong while improving consistency across every touchpoint.

Let’s shape a brand your community feels proud of, now and into the future.

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