Broward County Public Schools
Building a unified communications infrastructure from the ground up for one of the largest and most diverse public school districts in the United States.
Birk Creative was engaged to lead a full communications transformation for Broward County Public Schools, the sixth largest public school district in the United States.
Serving more than 270,000 students across 337 schools and nearly 30,000 employees, the district represents families from 198 countries and 184 languages. The work was not a redesign project. It was a system build. The objective was to create a unified, accessible, and sustainable communications infrastructure that could support district leadership, schools, families, and community partners for years to come.
The Challenge
District leadership inherited an organization with extraordinary scale and diversity but no unified communications foundation.
There were no brand standards.
No districtwide communications policies.
No social media governance.
No consistent digital design system.
No accessible or translatable content structure.
The district website was difficult to navigate, visually fragmented, and not designed for accessibility or mobile use. Strategic plans were dense, technical, and inaccessible to parents and community members. Schools and departments created materials independently, resulting in inconsistent quality and messaging.
Reaching families whose first language was not English was especially difficult. Materials were not designed to scale across languages or reading levels. There were no visual tools that could communicate information quickly and clearly inside schools or community settings.
District leadership had established a clear strategic vision centered on instructional quality, continuous improvement, and effective communication. The infrastructure to support that communication pillar did not exist.
The district required a complete communications platform built from the ground up.
The Insight
In a system of this scale, communications is not content. It is infrastructure.
Without standards, governance, and accessible design systems, even strong leadership and strategy cannot be clearly communicated across hundreds of schools, departments, and communities.
The opportunity was to build a unified communications platform that could support consistency, equity, accessibility, and long term operational use, not short term campaigns.
The Idea
Create a districtwide communications ecosystem that establishes brand foundations, digital standards, governance, and tools that enable every school and department to communicate clearly, professionally, and inclusively.
The system needed to support multilingual communities, accessibility compliance, digital engagement, and consistent public representation of district priorities.
The Work
Birk Creative led a comprehensive, multi year transformation program spanning brand, governance, digital infrastructure, and outreach.
Brand foundations and identity system
A complete communications standards and guidelines framework was created to define district positioning, voice, and visual identity.
The brand system established a consistent and professional presence grounded in educational excellence, leadership, innovation, and future readiness. Voice and tone standards were defined as upbeat, positive, hopeful, aspirational, and professional.
Visual standards were designed for operational use across digital and print channels. Open Sans was selected as the primary web typeface due to its extensive character set and localization capacity, supporting the district’s multilingual environment. A complete color system, typography hierarchy, logo usage rules, and photography standards were documented in a comprehensive brand guide.
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Communications governance
Birk Creative developed districtwide communications policies covering grammar, usage, editorial standards, voice, style, and naming conventions.
Governance standards defined how the district is referenced externally, how schools and departments are listed, how titles are presented, and how acronyms, numbers, dates, and formatting are handled.
Social media governance was introduced for the first time. Schools and departments received guidance on tone, content strategy, platform usage, accessibility requirements, image permissions, and mobile optimization.
Website and digital standards
A comprehensive digital standards system was created covering information architecture, navigation, typography, color usage, buttons, forms, tables, lists, SEO, metadata, and accessibility requirements.
Website transformation
The district website was completely redesigned.
Information architecture was rebuilt to reflect how families, students, employees, and community members actually search for information. Navigation was simplified and supported through a custom icon system designed to improve usability and visual comprehension.
The redesign prioritized mobile responsiveness and accessibility. Semantic structure, screen reader compatibility, keyboard navigation, color contrast standards, and alternative text practices were implemented to support ADA compliance.
Content structures were designed to support translation and localization at scale, enabling multilingual access across the district’s communities.
Strategic communications and document design
District strategic plans were redesigned into clear, visually structured, and accessible publications.
Complex policy language was translated into plain language supported by charts, diagrams, photography, and infographics. Pagination systems and layout templates were created to ensure consistency across future publications.
Presentation templates were created for leadership and school administrators to support roadshows, community meetings, and stakeholder briefings.
Print and outreach materials
A full suite of outreach materials was developed, including posters, flyers, brochures, tent cards, and school based infographics.
All materials were designed for accessibility and translatability, with layouts capable of supporting significant text expansion for multilingual use.
Infographics were created for placement in schools to communicate key information to families using visual storytelling rather than text heavy layouts.
Program branding and initiative support
The district’s SMART initiative received a complete identity system including multiple logo configurations and supporting collateral to enable consistent communication across schools and programs.
Digital and social campaigns
Coordinated social campaigns were created to support district initiatives, including a mobile application adoption campaign and technology engagement initiatives.
Digital collateral was developed to help communicate technology investments, learning platforms, and infrastructure improvements to families and community stakeholders in accessible language.
Strategic use of The Honest Field Guide platform
As part of the broader communications strategy, Birk Creative leveraged its owned media platform, The Honest Field Guide, to extend district leadership visibility beyond traditional school district channels.
District leadership participated in a long form interview focused on technology transformation, closing the digital divide, personalized learning, computer science education, and the district’s response to COVID related learning challenges.
The conversation positioned district leadership as a national voice in education innovation and equity and expanded reach to education, business, and community audiences not typically reached through district communications alone.
The Result
The district moved from fragmented communications to a unified, professional, and accessible system.
The website became a user centered, mobile ready, and accessible platform. Strategic plans became clear and compelling public facing publications. Schools and departments gained governance, templates, and standards that enabled consistent representation of district priorities.
Print and digital materials became translatable, visually clear, and suitable for use across diverse communities. Social media shifted from uncoordinated activity to governed and professional engagement.
Most importantly, the infrastructure created by Birk Creative enabled long term sustainability. Communications standards, governance frameworks, templates, and digital systems continue to support district operations across hundreds of schools and departments.
Why it endures
The work was designed as infrastructure, not creative output.
The systems built allow district leadership and staff to maintain consistency, accessibility, and professionalism as priorities evolve, programs change, and new initiatives emerge.
The platform supports equity by enabling multilingual communication and accessible design across all channels.
Services Provided
Brand identity and standards system
Districtwide communications standards and editorial governance
Voice and tone guidelines
Logo usage and photography standards
Typography and color systems designed for multilingual environments
Social media governance and platform standards
Website redesign and digital standards framework
Information architecture and navigation systems
Accessibility and ADA compliance implementation
SEO and metadata standards
Strategic plan publication design and updates
Presentation templates for leadership and community engagement
Print and outreach materials designed for multilingual use
Program branding and initiative support
Digital and social media campaigns
Podcast and owned media platform integration