What the logo means

• The Austin A in the center symbolizes Austin Public Schools. The A was included as a nod towards tradition and heritage.

• The slight offset is meant to convey the district’s drive to provide modern education for students.

• The circles are the A are meant to symbolize inclusion and togetherness while providing a path through education.

• The swirling colors represent the diversity of both schools and community.

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In an effort to reflect the school district’s newly formed unified look, Austin Public Schools released its new logo this week.

It’s the latest step in the district’s cultivation in recent years of its relatively new mission statement: Engage, Empower, Inspire.

“It’s taking what has been done traditionally … how do we modernize that?” said Austin Public Schools Communications Coordinator Ryan Mayers. “How can we help students be more successful? Trying to become more modern is one of the ways in how we present ourselves to the public.”

This effort began in 2016 with the launch of the district’s new website and has continued to take shape as social media becomes more entwined with what the district is trying to do. This is in turn part of a process the district has taken in order to figure out where the school fits in with the future.

Early on in the process, that was a key point of the initiative.

“Who did we want to become?” APS Superintendent David Krenz said. “What is our key focus here in the district? What are those components that make us who we are?”

The process of creating the new logo began with a brainstorming effort that took into account what the district wanted to display as an identity. Ideas ranged to include STEAM and athletics, caring for the whole child and showing off the strength in diversity both as a district and community.

It was to reflect the ever changing aspect of the district as it moves forward in trying to meet the needs of students.

“What we’ve tried to become is a fluid organization,” Krenz said. “Just like society, we are an ever-changing organization. Our educational plan is critical in ensuring our community, staff and students are continuing to get the message of what we’re doing, the initiatives we see coming our way or how we’re going to address these newer initiatives being placed in front of us.”

But there was another strong aspect to the logo change: how it represents and reflects the school’s position in the community and the strong tradition that binds the two.

“That’s the feedback as we talked to our constituents, our students and our families and communities,” Krenz said. “It really is important to tie what we’ve done in the past and where we’re headed.”