Beaufort County schools get a new logo after 15 years. Here’s the winner

For 15 years, the Beaufort County public school logo showed children holding hands and carrying a banner that said “Where learning leads the way.”

Next year, that will change. Instead, an image of the sun rising over water will be on district branding materials and represent the county. The district paid the Rhodes Branding marketing agency $86,552 for the year-long rebranding process, which included mock-ups of multiple logos and taglines, and facilitation of focus groups, surveys, workshops, and feedback forums, according to spokesperson Candace Bruder.

Bruder said the district determined the previous logo wasn’t accessible to those with colorblindness, spurring a rebranding so that the new logo is in line with the federal Americans with Disability Act. The old branding had yellow lettering on a blue background, making it difficult for people with certain types of colorblindness to see.

The decision came down to two options for brand logos. The board approved the final logo in a 7-1 vote on July 1, agreeing with a community survey that overwhelmingly favored the final logo. In the same meeting, the board voted against both slogan options.

The two options were:

1. Rising to Excellence, Together

2. Innovating Today for a Brighter Tomorrow

“I don’t like the ‘innovating’ tagline because it sounds like a tech company or like we’re creating widgets in a factory,” Board Member Elizabeth Hey said. She also mentioned constituents having issues voting for the tagline, but not the logo in the community surveys.

Superintendent Frank Rodriguez will now “go back to the drawing board” on the tagline and bring new options back to the board according to Board Chair Christina Gwozdz at the meeting.

Board members also mentioned the possibility of students designing a logo. The district decided against a student design because the district “should be represented by a brand developed by subject matter experts,” Bruder wrote in an email to The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette.