How newkid built Primer’s identity around a building blocks concept

The Brand Identity: Take kids seriously, and they take themselves seriously. That’s the belief Primer has been building a network of teacher-led US schools around since 2019. The model looks back to the one-room schoolhouse and the original primer books that taught North American children to read and reason, equipped with modern tools that serve learning rather than aim to replace it. With expansion into Texas on the horizon and the original brand straining to carry the ambition of a national movement, Primer partnered with creative company newkid for a complete brand overhaul. The name stayed, but everything else has been rebuilt around it.

The original primers were small books that taught the fundamentals to generations of children – a strong foundation that newkid decided to build on. Primer’s proposition intentionally goes against the ed-tech optimism and innovation theatre that the category typically offers, so the brand needed to make it feel urgent and forward-facing.

Think a teacher who knows your child, mastery before advancement, and independence as a primary goal. As the overarching strategy, newkid landed on ‘School for What’s Ahead.’ It frames a return to foundational learning as the most serious possible preparation for the future, with every piece of language and design in the system flowing from it. Establishing the brand’s perspective came before any visual work commenced. “It spans hundreds of years of history, and looks centuries in the future,” explains Matthew Donne, Co-founder & Creative Director at newkid.

“We needed a voice that could speak confidently, evoke the power of education over time, and capture attention boldly. It’s a brand with something to say. We needed the depth of an essay and the poetry of a classic piece of oratory.” The manifesto that came out of that thinking is written in short, declarative sentences, reaching back to the primer textbooks and the one-room schoolhouse. Two visual worlds pulled at the project from either side, and newkid rejected both.

“On one side is old world academia: hand-drawn or engraved-style crests with heraldic elements, deeply set serif typefaces and colour palettes that feel like an old world library,” says Alex Avendaño, Co-founder & Strategy Director.

“On the other is a cluster of approaches that feel more tech-led: design languages that feel like app designs or interfaces, rather than schools with living, breathing students and teachers.” They avoided them as both missed the point of a brand built on educational fundamentals and emerging technology together. Instead, ‘building blocks’ became the early touchstone – a phrase that reflects both childhood and Primer’s focus on mastering the fundamentals of maths, reading and writing, and from there a modular grid took shape.

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This article discusses a significant rebranding effort that introduces a unique conceptual framework in education branding, making it highly relevant and impactful for brand strategy professionals.