37.8 Latitude High School is a new school in Oakland, California, focused on real world Project-Based Learning, with strong arts, multimedia, and technology integration. PYD Studio has designed a brand identity for Latitude that reflects the school’s core values of educating youth and preparing them for college and beyond. The iconography and color palette of Latitude’s brand tells a cohesive story that has applications for a variety of use cases for web site, exhibits, t-shirts, brochures, and social media.

PYD Studio worked with the school’s leadership team to determine how to best integrate the previous logo design into the new brand identity. During this process, Latitude was still working to get approval from the city for its charter petition. Establishing its brand identity was an important aspect of introducing the school to the community and identifying prospective families.

PYD Studio explored a variety of designs that convey the importance of community learning and real world exploration, such as a teardrop image the replicated map markers and colors that represented earth elements such as sun and ocean.  

The final logo design continued to emphasize the compass icon and the latitude 37.8 while retooling the icons, colors, and fonts to simplify the design story. The compass icon and 37.8 now recedes to the background of the logo to emphasize the name of the school. The brand was redesigned with an organic color palette, with the compass reflecting colors of the sun and the name of the school done in a palette of aqua greens. The new logo can be arranged horizontally or vertically to maximize its use in environmental branding, in brochures and websites, or on clothing.

The updated logo is more versatile that the original, which could only be displayed in a horizontal block. Its modern look and multiple uses makes the brand appeal to a wide variety of audiences, from prospective students and families to progressive educators.

Since establishing the brand for Latitude, PYD Studio continues to expand the brand architecture to include various sub-brands such as Oaklore and We, the Town to help the teachers and students at the school share their projects with real world audiences.