Community Schools Alliance Trust (CSAT) is a growing Oxfordshire academy trust that is dedicated to inspiring its members to go for ever greater levels of achievement.

The Trust is committed to improving every learner’s life chances by concentrating on core principles shared by each institution under its uniting organisation.

Working closely with the CSAT leadership team, I created a brand identity that communicates the warmth and solidarity of the organisation, while simultaneously celebrating the team’s mission.

The semiotically distinct design synthesises a graphically strong representation of singularity and collectivity with the subtly indicated overlap of two speech marks. There is also a graphically strong representation of the sun - one of the original ideas discussed with the CSAT leadership team - that inspires a sense of longevity.

The brand system utilises an elegant serif font coupled with a modern grotesque font for contrast and to indicate away from what might otherwise lean towards a more standard visual identity.

Lessening typographic hierarchy also promotes the principle cultural inclusion that are at the core of CSAT.