​Initially, Cardigan Mountain School asked Charles Gibson Design to upgrade its entry signage to keep pace with the completion of a new classroom facility designed by Banwell Architects. Since the sign graphics also called for the School’s official seal as a major symbolic element, the wayfinding project evolved into a comprehensive redesign of CMS’s graphic identity, beginning with its seal and extending to stationery, print collateral, official furniture, commemorative objects, and service vehicles.

CGD’s research revealed that Cardigan Mountain School had been using an existing academic shield/motto and a separate 1945 incorporation seal in an uncoordinated “ad hoc” manner to identify itself. To give the School a unified and consistent graphic identity in all its print applications and signage, CGD simply reconstructed and combined the two existing marks. The 1945 incorporation seal is transformed into a border inscription. The new design is consciously traditional in spirit and appropriate to the distinguished, well-established pedigree of this private boarding/day school.

CGD also provided the School with a graphic standards manual as a guide to the ongoing implementation of their new identity.