Work
Blue Engine

Building a brand for change

Brands
Education
Social justice

Blue Engine optimizes the power of team teaching, the approach of having multiple teachers in a classroom in service of a shared outcome for students. After more than a decade of operating in New York City, they were ready to expand to new communities and needed a brand that clarifies their vision for team teaching among district partners and funders.

Bringing clarity to an important mission.

Blue Engine has a clear mission and point of view—they believe when teachers can effectively collaborate, they can individualize learning for every student, regardless of race, income, or learning style. Our challenge was to articulate what team teaching is, why it’s important, and what Blue Engine’s role is in sharing the practice with schools and teachers.

Logo
1/5
Their new logo centers Blue Engine’s bedrock value of DEI and antiracism and core belief that all learners are equal.
Tagline
2/5
Their tagline is a flexible device that emphasizes what they do and the impact of their work.
Identity system
3/5
The equal sign in their logo is adapted to create a colorful visual system of dynamic blue bricks
Vision statement
4/5
We collaborated with their team to refresh their vision statement to increase clarity and reflect the new tone/style.
Zoom background
5/5
The COVID-19 pandemic led us to imagine new ways the brand could come to life online—for example, with Zoom backgrounds.

Building unity across the team.

Big Duck collaborated with senior leadership and board members to create a brand strategy built from their organizational objectives, then developed a tagline, visual identity and messaging system that clarified who they are. We brought in staff at key junctures and trained everyone on using the new brand, knowing that they play a significant role in bringing the brand to life.

Setting Blue Engine up for growth.

As they aim to increase their national visibility, Blue Engine also needed to hire new staff who could help make that happen. Big Duck partnered with Blue Engine to think through a new Director of Communications role and draft a job description to develop a communications strategy focused on becoming more well known among potential partners and funders. By collaborating on refreshing the brand and guiding the communications hiring process, Big Duck developed a deep understanding of Blue Engine’s needs and how to set their staff up to communicate clearly, consistently, and in a mission-aligned way.

Rolling out the brand with a dynamic video

We collaborated with Rob Bellon on producing a rollout video to build excitement about the brand launch and announce what it means for Blue Engine’s next chapter.

 

Visit Site

The new brand embodies the change we want for teachers and students because it speaks to our values, our work, and our vision in such a clear yet bold way. Big Duck was truly a partner in this work––understanding our essence and bringing it to life.

— Elandria Jackson Charles, Chief Development and Communications Officer

Results

Since launching their brand, Blue Engine staff and board members report that it is easier to explain what they do and why it matters. Because the new brand elevates Blue Engine’s commitment to equity, they are able to recruit staff aligned with the organization’s values and stakeholders are proud to represent the organization as ambassadors.

Related Service

Brands

We clarify brand strategy and develop powerful brand assets to help you speak and write in more compelling ways.

• Audience research
• Brand strategy
• Naming and tagline
• Logo and visual system
• Brand architecture strategy and solutions
• Vision, mission, and values statements
• Key messages, boilerplate, and elevator pitch
• Issue area narrative analysis and development
• Rollout plan
• Digital brand guide
• Marketing collateral
• Website consulting

Related Content

As your organization grows, so should your brand. We can help.

×