Real skills, in real time, for real careers
BRAND STRATEGY
Shillington has always been known as the original graphic design bootcamp, with rave reviews and inspiring tales of creative transformation from anyone passing through their doors. Offering full-time and part-time short course study options, they’ve produced over 11,000 industry-ready designers, and wowed those who have employed them, since 1997.
Shillington came to me during a period of internal change and increased competition. They wanted to refresh their brand strategy and clearly define their place in the design education landscape, while continuing to drive enrolments across their full-time and part-time courses.
At the heart of it? A simple but persistent question from potential students: Can I really become a graphic designer in three months?
The Brief:
The Research:
I ran stakeholder workshops, team interviews, student and alumni research, and market analysis across traditional and alternative design education.
What surfaced quickly? Shillington’s reputation was strong, but its positioning wasn’t. Despite years of proven outcomes and over 11,000 graduates, the brand relied heavily on word of mouth and success stories to do the heavy lifting.
Meanwhile, the wider industry was still dominated by outdated narratives: long degrees, slow progress, and the idea that creatives must “pay their dues” before being taken seriously.
The Brief, Reframed:
Rather than proving Shillington works, the real task was reframed
as this:
Stop competing with traditional education.
Start claiming a category of your own.
Shillington didn’t need to defend speed or justify outcomes. They needed clarity, confidence, and a sharper story about why their model exists at all.
The audience became clearer once the vision did.
This wasn’t for everyone. It was for ambitious, self-driven creatives who felt stuck by traditional career paths and wanted practical, real-world skills. Fast.
People who ask, Why should it take years to do something well? People ready to back themselves and move forward.
The Audience:
The brand was stuck in an unnecessary loop of convincing, comparing, and competing against outdated forms of design education when in fact they already existed in a category entirely of their own. They just needed the brand clarity to confidently plant their flag there.
The real problem wasn’t trust in Shillington’s outcomes. The proof already existed in graduate portfolios, careers, and employer demand.
The problem was perception.
Shillington was unintentionally framed within the same mental category as traditional design education, forcing them into constant comparison and justification.
The Problem
before
after
The shift that unlocked everything? Shillington isn’t a shortcut. It’s a smarter system.
Their true strength is The Shillington Method. A structured framework combining immersive learning and design thinking that builds industry-ready designers from day one.
Not less depth. Different depth.
The Insight
Shillington exists to break down outdated barriers to creative careers.
They lead change in modern design education
by offering smarter, faster, more practical learning. Focused on real skills, learned in real time, for real careers.
This positioning allowed the brand to stop explaining how fast it works and start confidently stating why it works.
To bring this to life, I worked with the in-house team to define a clear brand personality: the Rebel–Catalyst. Challenging norms. Optimistic but grounded. Modern, not preachy.
A new verbal identity and messaging playbook followed built around transformation, confidence, and designing your own future.
The Positioning
Jack Trotman, Managing Director at Shillington
“As a design school that teaches branding, it's funny how hard it can be to step back and see our own clearly, but Hilary helped us do just that. She gave us the space and perspective to get out of the day-to-day and view Shillington through the eyes of the people who matter most: our students”
The strategy roadmap
To ensure clarity in the strategy’s implementation and rollout, I provided a thorough handover and comprehensive brand strategy roadmap to align the team and guide rollout across key touchpoints and channels, future campaigns and collaborations, as well as training or brand guidelines development.
