The kids are alright: Wonderhood’s brand for Soho’s last primary school is a lesson in academic aesthetics

There’s only one primary school in Soho, and, until recently, it was at risk of closing due to declining enrolment. Following a refreshed brand identity from the schools Soho neighbours Wonderhood, however, the number of applications has increased by nearly 60 per cent. The identity was designed to not only reflect the opportunity and access that Soho Parish CofE Primary School offers, but also make the school impossible to ignore. 

“Since we moved into our current office at the start of 2023, we’ve been in conversation with the school, which is directly next door to our office,” Wonderhood Design’s co-founder, Simon Elvins, says. Following the school’s new appointment of Alix Ascough as the executive headteacher, the school’s enrolment challenges became a top priority, and they turned to Wonderhood Design to help drive awareness of the school. “The previous school identity and signage was looking quite tired and worn,” Simon says. “So we thought that a new identity that better reflected its unique location,” whilst also championing “some much-needed love and pride.”

The rebrand marks the second project of Wonderhood’s under its Neighbourly Fund, a pro bono initiative established to help support the local community and integrate the studio within it. “Soho has changed a lot over the recent years, and many feel it’s losing its soul to gentrification,” Simon says, “so keeping the last remaining school open in Soho is really important for the community. The school doesn’t have a catchment area like so many others in London,” he adds, “so it offers up an alternative for some parents who work and commute to Soho to bring their children with them!”

Taking centre stage in the brand is Soho Parish’s distinctive, logomark. Inhabiting the school’s silhouette, its architectural form reflects the physicality of its environment whilst also acting as a vehicle for illustration, depicting the school’s unique offering. “The school has some amazing relationships with its neighbours,” Simon explains, “from music lessons at legendary jazz club Ronnie Scott’s and taking part in sports day in the Regent’s Park,” or, indeed, having art class at the National Gallery. All of the shapes you can see in the logo were decided by the pupils in a workshop, after they were asked to highlight their favourite qualities and activities involving the school and Soho. “We also created an extensive icon set that could be used more widely across the brand,” says Simon, alongside an interactive, generative tool, where staff and pupils could create their own custom logo that champions their idea of Soho, applied onto stickers and bookmarks for each student.  

The brand’s typographic output is similarly rooted in the school environment.
It draws on the historical signage found across the school grounds, reflecting the school’s legacy whilst preserving its lineage within a contemporary context. “The wordmark is set in a more contemporary approach that should future-proof the identity for the years ahead,” Simon says. The team paired its ornate serif letterforms with a compressed, more subdued – yet equally as flourishing – italicised serif, optimised for the brand’s existence in digital and print. Chromatically, the brand embraces the primary nature of the primary school, with a hero yellow and blue. “The core logo used the navy blue that was part of the original identity,” Simon explains, “but we paired this with a bright sunshine yellow, adding some warmth and optimism.” The pairing mirrors the vibrancy of the school’s classrooms and surrounding space whilst, importantly, standing out on the street. 

“It was really important for the headteacher and the school as a whole that the pupils had some involvement and say in the new identity,” Simon adds. “It’s a key part of their ethos that they are always at the heart of the school.” For the team, it was practically and aesthetically necessary to get pupils hands-on in brand workshops. “Also giving the pupils some ownership over the new identity with the custom logo generator meant it could be more flexible and tailored to each individual,” Simon says, while still being mindful that the illustrations were relevant to the pupils’ ages and activities. “Seen in different contexts the icons can have a different meaning,” Simon ends – such as the hourglass sand timer representing history class and break time – “so there’s some nuances we had to work through with the staff and pupils.”