When people think of Loyola Academy, they think of the “LA” emblazoned in maroon and gold on uniforms and athletic bags. When people think Resurrection, they think of the trademark black, white, and red on spirit wear.  When people think of Regina, they think of a confusing mesh of shirts in every color of the rainbow.

Regina’s branding strategy is changing this perception. Just as a company develops a recognizable brand of particular colors, logo, or slogan for their product, Regina’s administrators and faculty have been working to create a uniform look and identity for the school, which includes Regina’s logo, slogan, colors, and  apparel. “For a very long time, people were defining who Regina was and what kind of a school it was. We wanted to define ourselves,” said Kathryn Pins, director of communications and marketing.

In order to brand a product, the product must be identified. Through interviews with students, specific qualities that characterize Regina girls were determined. Confident, unique, compassionate, joyful, and curious were the adjectives used to label the brand personality, which can be found in Regina’s “Brand Bible,” a document that was created to define the mission, vision, and style of the Regina brand. “We made sure our brand always reflects what we want to be,” Pins said. “We want to be a top-tier school, and we want our girls to be excellent leaders. We want them to have that can-do spirit. We want them to be compassionate.”

Branding is used to make Regina look professional and uniform to prospective students, parents, and anyone outside of the school. Alterations to uniforms are also being instituted.

The logo has been updated as result of Vision 2020 initiatives. The old logo reflects the crown, book, and star, but they are separate. The new logo is unique because the crown, book, and star represents Regina as a blended community that is seen as connected to one another. “We wanted [the Crown, the book, the star] to be more integrated, rather than in the old logo where they were definitely separated. The pages of the book are open, to symbolize that people are actively learning,” Meg Bigane, the principal, said. The new logo also contains the year, 1958, in which the school was founded.

As part of the branding, fonts will be standardized in Neutraface. In the past, t-shirts for clubs and events ran the gamut of a hodgepodge of colors. With the new branding,  t-shirts must also follow new guidelines. Black and white will remain the school colors, with the addition of Pantone 279, or the Regina blue.

“To some people it seems silly to try to get everything to look similar. But by doing that, everything is more cohesive and it makes Regina much more presentable,” Tim Brodeur, director of student life, said. All spirit wear must be approved by him.

When designing T-shirts for the class of 2015, the Class Leadership board had difficulty gaining approval. They were not allowed to have a silhouette of a panther on the shirt, because no panther was officially chosen. The shirt followed the color and font requirements.  “I understand what the school is trying to do, but it’s limiting our creativity. There are so many restraints and it’s hard to make a T-shirt  unique for the senior class,” Niamh Ryan ’15 said. Ryan is a member of the Class of 2015 Leadership Board.

While no panther has been selected for spirit wear purposes, the paw print is frequently used.  “There are lots of paws out there, but we have our own that is unique to Regina. We want all the athletic wear to have the same Regina paw,” Pins said. A decision on the panther has been delayed, according to Pins. Bigane is looking into using the panther that is on the Student Council bulletin board. “A lot of panther logos we have seen are kind of scary,” Bigane said. “That one is the happiest panther I’ve ever seen. We’ve been working hard on it.” As of now, the standardized paw print is being used until a panther is chosen.