XQ Institute

Let’s Rethink High School

Our Role

Strategy, Art Direction, Brand Identity, Brand Writing, Concept Development, Motion Graphics, UI / UX Design, Design and Development, Experience Design

Collaborators

XQ, XWP, Displaay

High ambition for high schools

Aim to inspire

Top of their class

On board

High ambition for high schools. In 2015 Emerson Collective, led by Laurene Powell Jobs, launched a $50 million project to create high schools based on a new approach to education: XQ Institute.

Aim to inspire. Today XQ is the nation’s leading organization dedicated to rethinking the high school experience so that every student graduates ready to succeed in life.

Top of their class. Building from a long term partnership with the Carnegie Foundation, XQ is entering its next chapter where scaling and added maturity is important to its growth and influence.

On board. To set the foundation for its evolution, Athletics drove a holistic brand and digital transformation partnering deeply with XQ’s creative team.

The future starts today

XQ’s Institute’s rebrand represents the beginning of the next chapter for the organization as XQ expands the depth and breadth of its initiatives with educators, policymakers, community members and students to transform high school education.

XQ’s logo was designed to embody a future that is smart, streamlined, and mature. It is built from precise geometry that allows the X to be rotated to form a ‘plus’ sign; a symbol for XQ’s collaborative spirit and positive outlook.

Collaboration and partnership

The XQ Team and Athletics worked together to develop xqsuperschool.org, a best in class digital platform powering insights, partnerships, and community to help students, educators, policymakers, families and neighbors transform the American high school experience together.

Athletics worked with the type foundry Displaay to develop a custom XQ version of their typeface Teodor Light that provides alternate hand drawn characters allowing XQ to build unexpected moments into primary headlines in print and digital.

Real students. Real transformation.

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XQ photography strives to tell a holistic story of learning by capturing authentic high school moments, both large and small, to portray a dynamic picture of the XQ experience.

Events and activations, like XQ’s summit with Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, provide XQ with the opportunity to highlight their long term partnerships dedicated to improvement in education.

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The ability to tell engaging stories optimized for mobile reading is central to XQ's site experience. A flexible suite of content modules allows internal XQ staff to easily publish short, medium and long form content.

XQ in a Box

XQ’s brand system has been optimized to work in physical, digital and experiential contexts. XQ’s roadmap to digital transformation, XQ in a Box, is both a physical toolkit sent to high schools as well as a digital platform.

“A school is not a good school unless it’s good for all the kids in it. We want to be able to shine a bright spotlight on the things that work.”
Russlynn Ali, Co-founder and CEO, XQ Institute

Infectious Action

A versatile suite of visual tools help XQ Instigate excitement around mutual action that comes by way of influencing, sharing, visualizing and making dynamic the diversity of people, opinions, and ideas at play in the world of XQ.

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