​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. CGD responded with a sequence of entry/directional signs that reinforce the traditional academic image appropriate for this well-established, private boarding/day school. Since the graphics concept also called for the school’s official shield as a major symbolic element, the project evolved into a comprehensive redesign of CMS’s graphic identity, beginning with the shield and extending to stationery, print collateral, official furniture, commemorative objects, and service vehicles.

Unity throughout the sign program is achieved not only by consistent use of font, color, and school seal, but also by borrowing the arched top of the two-posted panels, in mirror image reversal, for the bottom of the single-posted panels.