Context Located in the heart of Ghent, Sint-Barbaracollege is a Jesuit school with a long-standing reputation for academic excellence and personal development.

With education spanning from kindergarten through secondary school, the college faced a clear challenge: how to speak to very different age groups, parents, and educators while still expressing a single, unified voice for the school as a whole.

Design We redesigned the emblem for clarity and balance—making it more symmetrical and refining the linework so it stays legible at any size. The palm branch and sword were repositioned to create a stronger, more stable composition.

Updated typography brings everything together, ensuring a consistent and cohesive look across all communication materials.

Concept Building on the symbolism of one of the former logo’s, the staircase represents the development of each pupil through the different stages of education: from early curiosity in kindergarten to intellectual and personal maturity in the upper years.

The three steps also carry a subtle spiritual reference to the number "3", echoing the story of Saint Barbara, the school’s patron saint.

This idea became the backbone of the identity: a coherent system that visually connects kindergarten, primary, secondary, and boarding school, while allowing each to express its own tone and focus.

Design Each stage of the school has its own colour palette, reflecting the pupils’ journey: vibrant and playful in kindergarten, gradually becoming calmer and more refined towards the humaniora, with blue as a constant thread across all levels. The boarding school (internaat) has its own dedicated palette, creating a distinct identity within the same visual family.

Typography Typography plays a central role in setting the tone. The elegance of Reforma 2018 is paired with the practical readability of Spectral. Together, they express the college’s dual nature: academic excellence balanced with warmth and approachability.

The tone of voice follows the same principle—consistent yet flexible, thoughtful yet human. It combines confidence with curiosity, intellect with empathy, reflecting the school’s mission "to form the whole person": competent, conscious, and compassionate.

Result At its core, the rebranding reflects what Sint-Barbaracollege has always embodied: tradition as a starting point for growth, nurturing head and heart, and linking generations of learners.