category finalist
dan@grown.agency
All it takes to understand Principia College’s appeal is one visit to its bucolic campus on the bluffs of the Mississippi. But first, you have to find it.
Founded in 1898, Principia is a tiny liberal arts college nestled in the woods outside Elsah, Illinois. Its less than 500 students live and learn on-campus, in-person, within a historic Tudor-style village designed by renowned architect Bernard Maybeck.
This community-focused infrastructure is something of an anomaly in today’s higher ed landscape. Our task was to capture and distill it elegantly for new audiences — without alienating generations of alumni.
To succeed, we had to make it unmissable. First, we created a custom wordmark that retains the essence of the original while modernizing it for the digital age. Then, we scoured the archives for an emblem that’s at once nostalgic and current.
When we started exploring new symbols to better represent Principia, we first went to the College's remarkable archives, where we pored over artifacts, photographs, architectural drawings, and more than a century's worth of publications, poetry, and more.
Those collections yielded all sorts of rich creative territories to explore, including the original Maybeck renderings that inspired our new wordmark. But it was an assortment of signets that really captured our attention. The Girls' Athletic Association pin given to board members in 1934 became the basis for our new mark. At once historic and playful, nostalgic and modern, it strikes the perfect balance between tradition and possibility.
