overview
More than a website refresh.
Dollar Bay Schools came to Monte ready for a change. The school had evolved—its curriculum, facilities, programs, and opportunities had grown—but its brand and website no longer reflected that progress.
Client
Dollar Bay Schools
Services
Web, Logo, Photo, Video
The Challenge
Dollar Bay had a lot to communicate: academics, athletics, electives, college-credit opportunities, trimester scheduling, school culture, and the close-knit experience of a small district.
The challenge was bringing all of those pieces together without overwhelming visitors. The existing brand also needed to work harder. The school wanted an identity that students, staff, families, and alumni could recognize, embrace, and use with pride.
Our solution
We approached the project as one connected brand experience rather than a collection of separate deliverables. We refreshed the school’s visual identity, bringing the academic and athletic brands together under the Dollar Bay Blue Bolts name. We then carried that identity into a responsive website designed around the needs of students, parents, staff, and prospective families.
The result was a unified brand and digital presence that made the school easier to explore while giving its community something that felt distinctly their own.
Curriculum: Captured
Following the logo redesign, Matt spent the day taking photos at Dollar Bay Schools. The photos show the dynamic classroom environments, unique learning electives, hands-on courses: from parachutes in the gym to robotics development, technology in the classroom to drawing and painting. Dollar Bay offers 27 electives and is one of three local schools to offer trimesters.
Opportunities: Shared
The responsive website pulls together the brand redesign and the engaging photography to highlight the vast trimester, elective, pre-college, and other educational opportunities provided to students at the Dollar Bay Tamarack City Area Schools. The home page can easily be updated to reflect the growing number of electives and the students earning college credit while studying at Dollar Bay.
Family: United
During the website design process, Lauren saw the vast opportunities available to potential students and wanted to find a way to share those with interested families. Ashley and Matt set-up studio interviews with four faculty members who talked about the experiences at Dollar Bay, focusing on the family-type environment experienced in the classrooms, hallways, and beyond.
New Brand
As a result of the rebranding effort, the K-12 school decided not only to adopt a new logo, but also change their name from the Dollar Bay Bays back to their original name the Dollar Bay Blue Bolts.
Since the logo design was released, the school and its students and alumni have proudly created new hats and shirts with the tagline “boom” – coined by the Monte team.
The minute we met with Dollar Bay Schools, we felt strongly they had a story to share. The culture and family-like environment in the small, close-knit school is a big part of their success - both for their students, as well as for their staff. Dollar Bay selected a few staff members to come to our office for interviews to speak on their experiences at Dollar Bay - from the safe environment to the fun atmosphere - we think their staff really highlights what makes Dollar Bay special and shows why every one of their kids is number one!