Lighting the Way: Pharos Academy’s Journey to a Standout School Brand
Pharos Academy: Pharos Academy needed a brand identity that resonated with students, faculty, and the broader community as they broke out from their parent company into their own entity. We rebuilt the brand and the customer-facing system to match where the company was actually going.
Live since 2021
Creating an Inspirational and Recognizable Identity
Pharos Academy operates in education & non-profit — a category that demands its own kind of attention from the brand and the buyer journey both. The work that got the company this far had earned its market share. The brand and digital surface area weren’t carrying the weight at the same level the rest of the operation was.
Pharos Academy needed a brand identity that resonated with students, faculty, and the broader community as they broke out from their parent company into their own entity. The challenge was to create a modern, flexible design system that reinforced the school’s commitment to education and achievement in one of New York City’s lowest-performing districts.
The brief was a system rebuild — the kind of work captured in our master frame: Developing a Dynamic Brand and Engaging Web Presence. Brand strategy, identity refresh, customer-facing experience design, and the post-launch measurement framework that lets the in-house team extend the work without us in the room.
Developing a Dynamic Brand and Engaging Web Presence
Brand Identity
A Brand that Resonates with Students and Faculty Commence Studio collaborated with founding principal Travis Brown and the school's directors to create an identity that encourages exploration and intellectual curiosity.
Web Development
Showcasing the Brand Online After establishing the brand identity, we moved on to web design and development.
Merchandise and Environmental Design
School Merchandise Design Inspired by sports branding and streetwear, we created merchandise that conveyed a “cool to stay in school” message, appealing to both students and staff.
A Brand that Resonates with Students and Faculty
Commence Studio collaborated with founding principal Travis Brown and the school's directors to create an identity that encourages exploration and intellectual curiosity.
Mission-led storytelling first, donate button second.
Site rebuilt around the mission narrative — beneficiary stories, program updates, and impact reporting. Donation flows live alongside, not in front of.
Donor + volunteer journey design.
Email + journey design tuned for the actual nonprofit funnel — first-time donor welcome, recurring-giving conversion, lapsed-donor reactivation.
The new identity perfectly captures Pharos Academy’s values. The modern design system and engaging website have elevated our school's presence and inspired our community. Commence Studio’s work has been transformative.
Principal
Numbers that matter for the engagement.
Brand and storefront, in production.
The new identity perfectly captures Pharos Academy’s values. The modern design system and engaging website have elevated our school's presence and inspired our community. Commence Studio’s work has been transformative.
Like what you see? Let's talk about your commerce stack.
A 14-day strategic diagnostic — we audit your current stack, identify the friction worth fixing first, and ship a phased plan with sized investments. Fully credited toward an engagement if we move forward together.
What you walk away with
- ✓A measured map of every friction point in your current commerce flow
- ✓Three phased options — minimum, considered, comprehensive
- ✓Sized investments and timelines, no aspirational ranges
- ✓A clear "don't hire us if…" section. We mean it.
