united community schools
Connecting students to all-encompassing resources
With a new name and brand, United Community Schools brings vital services to where kids are, making schools the center of the community.
Services
Brand Strategy
Messaging
Visual Identity
Brand Guidelines
Website
Brand Strategy
Messaging
Visual Identity
Brand Guidelines
Website
Ultravirgo project team
Schuyler Bush
Marina Csomor
Patrick Durgin-Bruce
Seth Margolis
Benjamin Tuttle
Glenn Westrom
Schuyler Bush
Marina Csomor
Patrick Durgin-Bruce
Seth Margolis
Benjamin Tuttle
Glenn Westrom
BACKGROUND
United Community Schools improves student achievement by addressing the emotional, social and health issues that can stand in the way of learning. Founded by the United Federation of Teachers as “New York City Community Learning Schools,” the program had ambitions to expand beyond NYC while adding services, and needed to differentiate from other community school programs.
KEY INSIGHT
The program’s unique model of placing a dedicated Director within each school serves to unite the community around the school — supporting students’ needs with services like eyeglasses, medical care, food and more, sourced directly from within their local community.
THE BIG IDEA
Fill in the gaps in student futures.
Partnering across the local community
Following extensive research, we developed a brand strategy encapsulated by a short but powerful phrase — United for Better — that highlights the organization’s deep partnerships with teachers, parents and community groups. Messaging emphasizes that United Community Schools is more than a model, it has proven its effectiveness in more than 30 schools.
A custom-designed typeface
The custom typeface is designed without spaces, utilizing icons that “fill in the gaps” between words, inspired by the way the organization fills in the gaps in student’s lives.
Community visibility
To help improve the program's visibility, and support the local community, window stickers were developed for participating local businesses (such as eye doctors and food banks) to show their affiliation with the program.
IMPACT
Growing into new markets
The brand system has supported growth of the organization into new markets outside NYC, adding new services and helping open new funding.
