Creating an engaging school mascot for Warwick Preparatory School 

Discover how we brought a high-spirited school mascot to life for Warwick Preparatory School.  

Challenge

To create a loveable squirrel mascot, Spirit, complete with brand guidelines and creative examples that speak to not only the pupils, but also the teachers and parents of Warwick Preparatory School.  

Solution

The first step of our creative process was to fully immerse ourselves in the world of Spirit, to understand the mascot’s key characteristics and map out how they might best embody the school’s values and ambitions.  

Warwick Preparatory School fosters an environment that encourages children to grow up better, by making it possible for them to stay younger longer.  

This became the guiding principle for our approach to the project. 

Following this principle, we developed a range of different illustration styles designed to create a mascot the school would adore. Our core design principle was to create a character that not only looked attractive, but which also worked harmoniously with the school’s heritage and culture; a crucial component when curating design and marketing for educational institutions and students.

Once we agreed the style the school wanted to develop, we started to bring Spirit to life. It was important that the squirrel character felt playful and curious enough for the younger children to engage with, but that it also felt relatable for all pupils and the school community as a whole.  

We achieved this by illustrating Spirit with realistic squirrel features, pulling on tactile elements such as fur, whilst keeping the character happy and friendly through crayon textures. From these, we created outline versions for a simplistic but sophisticated design suitable for formal use.  

Drawing on inspiration from each of the school’s values, we then created a series of distinct versions of Spirit, such as ‘Community and Social Responsibility Spirit’, who wears a prefect badge adorned with an acorn.  

Finally, to enable the school to utilise the Spirit character throughout their marketing, we developed a set of brand guidelines and assets.  

These included a wide range of Spirit illustrations, as well as additional elements, such as conkers and pencils. We also developed a series of rules and practical guidance on how to use the elements to aid future creative development.  

The outcome was a new and much-loved school mascot, which has become a core element of the school’s brand identity. 

Impact

• Created 14 iterations of Spirit with an additional 14 accompanying asset 

• Developed comprehensive brand guidelines document 

• Generated mock-ups across key brand applications 

• Supplied assets in multiple file formats for immediate implementation 

Visit our creative page to find out more.