King’s School Canterbury
Brand Strategy, Brand Identity, Copywriting, Artwork, Brand World, Brand Guidelines
Understand First
As part of its integration into the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), Putney High School approached Free The Birds to update its brand identity. With a strong academic reputation and a proud heritage, the school needed an identity that felt more aligned with its values – modern, confident, and premium – while still honouring its traditions. The update also needed to maintain a visual connection to the wider GDST brand system, which Free The Birds had previously developed across a network of 25 schools.
Free The Birds refined the existing identity rather than reinventing it, maintaining core elements that carried meaning for the school. The traditional oak leaf crest – a longstanding symbol of strength and growth – was liberated from its holding shape, creating a cleaner, more contemporary mark. A refreshed typographic system introduced a more elegant and self-assured tone, better reflecting the school’s excellence and ambition.
The project was positioned as a natural evolution of the GDST brand framework, reinforcing a sense of unity across the network while allowing Putney High to shine with a distinctive and elevated look. This work marks another step in Free The Birds’ growing portfolio of thoughtful, design-led identities in the education sector, bridging tradition and transformation with clarity and care.
