Graphic Design Catalog for Schools by Denver Public Schools

Graphic Design Services for Schools 2026-27 CATALOG 1

Table of Contents DPS Graphic Design Services

Branding

Logo Design

Brand Guides

Mascot Design

Social Media Templates

Slide Decks

Email Signatures

Swag

Business Card

Brand Refresh Case Study

Print Material

Building Enhancements

Murals

Window Decals

Get Started With Us

DPS Graphic Design Services DPS’s Communications department offers free design services to district schools through its Marketing team. Branding

Why Use Us?

• Logo design and redesign

In addition to being available at no cost to you, our design team is trained in web accessibility and well-acquainted with schools’ needs.

• Mascots • Swag items (t-shirts, stickers, pens) • Brand guides • Business cards • Social media templates

Print Materials • Mailers • Brochures • Flyers • Templates

Building Enhancements • Murals

We have a combined 20+ years of experience across multiple industries, styles of design and mediums (both print and digital). Our design services are free to DPS school leaders. However, we do not pay for the end product you request. You will need to pay for printing and production.

• Floor, elevator and window decals • Banners • Signage

Need a digital marketing campaign? Contact Danielle Lewis danielle_lewis@dpsk12.net

Branding

The Importance of Branding for Your School The Bottom Line Your school’s brand is not just a logo — it is your school’s story. It’s how your audience perceives who you are. By actively managing it, you move from reacting to public perception to shaping it. First Impressions Matter For prospective families, your brand indentity — visible on your website, signage and social media — is often their first interaction with you. A professional, cohesive brand signals competence, safety and academic rigor before they even step on campus.

Make Your School Stand Out Families have more choices than ever today. Branding helps you stand out compared to other schools. A strong brand clearly articulates what makes your specific school unique (e.g., a focus on STEM, a commitment to the arts, or a specific pedagogical approach) and why a parent should choose you over the school down the street.

Student and Staff Retention When students and families feel a strong emotional connection to your school’s identity (the “We are [Mascot]” mentality), they are less likely to transfer out. A clear brand strategy unites staff under a shared mission. When teachers understand “who we are” and “what we stand for,” it creates a sense of belonging and purpose, which boosts morale and retention.

Community Trust and Engagement A consistent brand experience builds trust over time. When your community (parents, local businesses, neighbors) trust your brand, they become advocates who defend your school during challenges and celebrate it during successes.

Why Professionally Designed Branding Works Designing a logo is an exciting process. Because it’s a creative task, it is common for a parent, teacher, or community member to offer their design services. However, a school’s logo is more than just a cool graphic. It is a visual embodiment of your community, mission and values. Every color, font and stylistic choice must be filtered through a strategic lens. Here is why partnering with the DPS dedicated design team ensures your school’s identity is built to last. Brand Identity is More Than a Logo A brand identity includes color palettes, typography, and visual elements like patterns, icons and shapes to use alongside it, as well as a brand voice, photo style and experiences. Here is an example of how expanding a school’s brand identity creates a more engaging and recognizable product.

With Basic Branding Each of these templates uses the brand’s colors and logo, but in the Basic Branding examples, the fonts are generic and there aren’t any other design elements to distinguish its branding from anyone else’s.

NAME Title

000-000-000 name@email.com

Business card front and back design

Social media post templates

Retractable banners

In comparison, the Expanded Branding templates were designed by our team to incorporate more branding elements as a part of the full branding project. Now they have more personality and are more engaging. They tie into RASA’s 90s-style inspired logo.

With Expanded Branding

NAME Title

000-000-000 name@email.com

Business card front and back

Social media post templates

Retractable banners

AI is Great...for Ideation Image generating tools like Gemini, Midjourney or DALL-E are fantastic for getting ideas for your logo. However, you shouldn’t use an image generated from AI as your logo or even as a t-shirt design. Why? • First, it can’t be trademarked. • Second, it isn’t vector art so it can’t be scaled up or down, meaning the quality is going to be poor for most print applications. • Lastly, something generated by AI could be used by any school and is not unique to your school community. Accessibility Our designers are trained in accessible design, ensuring that your branding and marketing materials are accessible to all. Think of accessible design as opening the front door wide for every family in your community, ensuring no one is sidelined by a digital or physical barrier. When your marketing is easy for everyone to navigate, you’re not just checking a compliance box, you’re showing that your school truly values every voice.

Logo Design

Turnaround: Four to Six Weeks

Is your logo no longer reflective of your school community? Are you starting a new program or adding new grade levels? Wherever you are in your branding journey, we’ll work with you to create a logo or logos that resonate with your students and families.

How it Works 1. Before you start working with the Marketing team, we’ll ask you to fill out our School Branding Questionnaire form. This form helps the design team get on the same page with you about what it is you’re looking for in your new logo(s). 2. Once you complete the questionnaire, we’ll set up a meeting with you to review your answers and gather any other info that you want to share. 3. From there the design team will begin working on the initial concepts of your logo(s). Typically this takes four to six weeks, but it can take a longer or shorter amount of time based on the design team’s project queue and how quickly we receive feedback from your team.

Logos We’ve Created

Brand Guides

Turnaround: One to Three Weeks

Here are some reasons why you may want to work with our team to create a brand guide: • You’ve recently updated your logo. • You’ve added new colors or fonts to your brand. • You’d like to change aspects of your brand. We also always include brand guides as a part of our process when we build new logos or brand packages for schools.

Brand Guidelines

Official Logos There are four versions of the official Manual logo. All three versions contain an all white and an all black option. The primary logo is encouraged to be used first.

Logo

PRIMARY BLACK

LLENCE CE X EXPE CT

E XP E C T E

PRIMARY

ELLENCE

TAGLINE CIRCLE LOGO

Colors HTML 273B96

TAGLINE LOGO

Font HTML 1A1F4B

23 red 28 green 143 blue

HTML FFA300 255 red 163 green 0 blue

26 red 31 green 75 blue

PMS 2746

PANTONE 662 C

PMS 137

CMYK

SECONDARY

Open Sans 100 cyan 93 magenta 0 yellow 0 black

100 cyan 95 magenta 39 yellow 40 black

Google font; download here 0 cyan 36 magenta 100 yellow 0 black

Mascot Design

Turnaround: Three to Four Weeks

Whether it’s part of your logo or a separate entity, we can design mascots for your school. These custom illustrations can be used for murals, clothing, cardboard cutouts and more.

Social Media Templates

Turnaround: One to Two Weeks

We design social templates that visually represent your brand and more engaging for your audience.

Slide Deck Design

Turnaround: One to Two Weeks

Level up your school’s look with custom slide decks that put your colors and spirit front and center in every presentation. Whether you’re leading a staff meeting or a classroom, our easy-to-use templates keep everything looking sharp and cohesive.

Email Signatures

Turnaround: One to Two Weeks

Keep your contact details organized and on-brand with a custom email signature.

Swag & Spirit Wear

Turnaround: One to Three Weeks

From clothing to stickers to plushies, we can help you find the right vendor and ensure you have the best files for printing.

Business Cards

Turnaround: One to Two Weeks

We design business cards to match your branding, whether or not we’ve created the rest of your branding.

NAME TITLE Phone: XXX-XXX-XXX Email:

Manual Middle School 1700 E. 28th Ave. Denver, CO 80205

First, Last TITLE

### ### #### email here 3440 W. Yale Ave., Denver, CO 80219 | gust.dpsk12.org

NAME Title

000-000-000 name@email.com

Case Study: New Brand Identity for Gust Elementary Initial Request In November 2024, Gust Elementary reached out requesting a rebrand beginning with their school logo. They felt their cartoon tiger was too youthful and outdated and wanted to create a brand identity that reflects all the ages at their school. The goal was to combine the welcoming energy of an elementary school with an athletic feel. They also asked for to design to contain: • A circle shape. • A horizontal version of the logo. • A simple, legible font. • An orange, green, black and white color scheme with a yellow accent if possible. First Round of Concepts

Second Round of Concepts

ELEMENTARY

Final Round of Concepts for Approval

Gust Elementary BRAND GUIDELINES 2024

LOGOS

COLORS

#d9722a C11 M66 Y99 K1 Pantone 2018 C

#156c41 C87 M33 Y89 K24 Pantone 7726 C

#00000 C75 M68 Y67 K90 Pantone Black 3 C

#faad41 C0 M36 Y84 K0 Pantone 4008 C

#e9637d C3 M76 Y33 K0 Pantone 191C

FONTS Montserrat SemiBold

Montserrat Alternates SemiBold

Montserrat Regular

#0f4f2e C88 M41 Y91 K44 Pantone 3537C

Stationary

Email Signature

Building Enhancements Custom illustrations large format vinyl murals.

Outdoor Pole Banners

Print Materials

Year-Round Promotion

Turnaround: One to Two Weeks

We design mailers, brochures, flyers, posters and more to help get the word out about what makes your school unique, promote events, etc.

Building Enhancements

Murals

Turnaround: Five to Seven Weeks

We do custom illustration and design for murals, banners, floor and wall decals, marquees and more. Vector Art

Vinyl Mural

Vector Art

Vinyl Mural

Window Decals Vector Art

Turnaround: Three to Four Weeks

Vinyl Decals

Vector Art

Vinyl Decals

Get Started With Us Ready to get started? It’s easy to connect with us! If you have a simpler design request (e.g. a flyer, postcard, etc.) and already have established branding, feel free to use our Design Request Form. We’ll contact you if we have any further questions about your project — otherwise we’ll usually have a proof for you in one to two weeks! For brand strategy, marketing materials, and larger projects such as murals, please email us at communications@dpsk12.org. Include basic information in your subject line such as “Request for [School Name] Branding.”

Our Team Brittany Cowan

Merritt La Foe

Danielle Lewis

April Speights

Director of Marketing

Marketing Manager

Scan to Access Our Design Request Form

Lead Graphic Designer

Graphic Designer