Conestoga Students Inc. approached Jacknife to modernize its brand, aligning it more closely with student interests while maintaining a solid connection to the Conestoga College brand.
The challenge was to create a contemporary, youthful, and engaging strategic platform and visual system that resonates with students without isolating the college community.
Since 1973, Conestoga Students Inc. (CSI) has been the official student association, representing the interests of Conestoga College students. CSI is a non-profit organization led by an elected Student Board of Directors. While independent of the college, they work together to support Conestoga students.
We initiated the project by immersing our team in the brand, interviewing CSI representatives and developing multiple strategic pathways.
“Community Ahead” emerged as the chosen framework to inform our design strategy. The brand narrative positioned CSI as an independent, advocacy-driven student association fostering a local community united by shared values. The aim was to enhance the student experience and prepare students for future success.
Inspired by inclusivity and engagement, our design used bold shapes and expressive colours to represent diversity. The design avoided being overly academic, aiming for a fun, distinctive, and energizing look for the student body. Client alignment was quick, selecting a bold and expressive mark early on. We then engaged student representatives for feedback on the visual system before finalizing the design direction.
Client enthusiasm, engagement and positive feedback were high throughout the project. Student representatives, our audience, were excited about and embraced the overhaul, underlining the success of our rebranding efforts.
“My experience with Jacknife has been best-in-class. The creative, narrative, and strategic process with Jacknife has been incredibly enjoyable, and we have been empowered with the best fit for our identity.
Communications, design briefs, and the general tone around their approach have made this entire project exciting for the team versus something that could have been very divisive. Jacknife supported our decision-making to ensure an idea wasn’t “sold” to us by their team – we were simply presented with options backed by a deep understanding of what we were trying to accomplish. Truly excellent work!”
