We put the jewels on display
To capture new students hungry for careers in tech, we stripped down the community education classes and brought coding, programming, and cloud computing front and center.
- Courses in cosplay? Check.
- Tutorials on stock tips? Definitely.
- Sessions on C#? You know it!
If you wanted to expand your horizons and pick up a new skill, Bellevue College Continuing Education was the place to be.
Time for a spin off
As the Seattle area transformed into the Silicon Valley of the Northwest, Bellevue College pivoted its offerings to accommodate tech trajectories, but their brand never grew up. When they were ready to spin off their professional unit into its own entity, we helped lead the charge.
First, we uncovered the school’s buried treasure
Our investigation revealed three major nuggets
Basket weaving is a nice skill, but not a money-making venture
Online coding schools were underwhelming by comparison
50+ years in the community has built a lot of trust
The before
The during
The after
The before
The during
The after
The before
The during
The after
tom-bo-lo
A tech-licious rebrand
It hit us, like a pinecone from a Doug fir, tom-bo-lo!
The narrow strip of land that connects the mainland to an island would be the school's new namesake.
Tombolo had a fresh ring to it that matched the vibe of coding academies. Like a tombolo, the school would serve as a fundamental bridge to exciting career opportunities, yet remain connected to the original Bellevue College.
Bubble letters to float on
Our logo concepts came down to the rattler and the beluga. Both aligned with the playful side of the tech industry and kept the connection to the mother college underneath. In the end, the beluga won with its cuteness.
Orange bubbly shapes capture the bold spirit of professionals expanding their careers
Lowercase, fluid typeface juxtaposes the Bellevue College font
A tombolo-inspired mark anchors the logo and doubles as a brand element
Tombolo to your browser
We built the Tombolo Institute website from scratch, spelling out the value of a tech career right on the homepage. For those who were undecided, we constructed an interactive decision tree to guide them through their options.
Catalog dreams do come true
The bulk of the work was the course catalog, which houses 200 courses and programs—and counting. First, we streamlined the navigation by narrowing it down to three main focus areas: technology, business, and healthcare. Then, after combing through every course description, we revised, rewrote, and revamped the catalog to deliver an online-shopping-inspired experience, allowing for a more granular search with our robust filtering system.
I could use a tombolo