The Ashbrook Center has been a fixture in the American civics education sphere since its auspicious founding in 1983 when Ronald Reagan christened the institution in honor of Ohio statesman, John Ashbrook.
The center’s three main programs of Ashbrook Scholars, Ashbrook Academy, and Teaching American History focus on strengthening America by educating its students, teachers, and citizens on the history and principles of its Founding, while teaching the habits of reflection and choice necessary for a self-governing republic to continue.
It can be difficult for a mission-based organization with varied programs and a long legacy to define itself in a modern context that honors its past, meets pressing tactical needs in the present, and prepares itself for the future. So the Ashbrook Center turned to Beck & Stone.
The Logo
The new Ashbrook logo consists of a bold original icon and a tailored wordmark. It encapsulates and expresses the conservation of American ideals through scholarship that Ashbrook and its programs actualize.
The Wordmark
A wordmark visualizes what people vocalize. “Ashbrook” is how those connected to the Center refer to it in conversation. Thus, “Ashbrook” is what we wanted to show the public. The wordmark for Ashbrook is custom designed by Beck & Stone, borrowing from Times New Roman, one of the most common academic typefaces in the world. Thicker serifs and ligatures with a tall vertical baseline make the word mark somehow familiar and approachable to the average person, yet still perceptible as scholarly and institutional. It is strong enough to be used alone, without the icon.
The Icon: “Liberty’s Pen”
The bald eagle is the symbol of the American spirit. It is strong, bold, and free. America’s legacy is not simply one of symbolism, but of scholarship, hindsight, and leadership. Capturing Ashbrook’s vision for America and the manner in which the Center carries it out, “Liberty’s Pen” is a modernist feather pen with details that create a soaring eagle. It is meant to be distinct and iconic enough to be used alone if need-be, without the “Ashbrook” wordmark beside it.
Designing a family of siblings around the “eldest”.
The simplicity of the idea allowed us to use typography, color, and imagery to execute three distinct yet related brands around the Ashbrook identity.
For the logos, preserving the wordmark of “Ashbrook” but forgoing the icon is how this relationship is established.
Ashbrook Scholar is the distinguished member of the brand family, without political overtures or youthful exuberance. Ashbrook Academy is youthful, having no political overtures or nods to seniority. The logos are meant to be read straight across, to encourage a quick singular reading of the name.
A brand is more than a name and a logo, but the totality of an organization’s communications fit together to tell a story. Ashbrook is now positioned to successfully tell its story across every channel for years to come.
The mark is inspired by the seals of European trade guilds in the same period; most recognizably, the East India Company.
The Galliard Society child brand inherits characteristics of The New Criterion parent brand, yet stands alone—with the connective tissue being the font, art direction, and copywriting. It distinguishes itself by the heavy use of Galliard’s small caps, a darker color palette, and more subdued tone in its brand voice.
