Building a brand for the first AI-focused secondary school in Europe

Skyro is the first AI-focused secondary school in Europe, based in Bratislava. When I joined in 2022, the school had exactly two assets: a name and a dragon mascot. No visual system, no communication, no community. Slovak secondary schools rely on institutional colors and formal imagery, leaving clear runway for a brand willing to look completely different.

My role covered the full brand build: logo system, color palette, typography, website, social media templates, merchandise, and a design manual for junior handoff. Alongside the visual work, I advised on social media communication strategy and acted as creative director overseeing student designers from the school itself.

The mascot became the anchor for every brand decision. Purple was chosen deliberately: no Slovak education competitor was near it, and it sits between the authority of blue and the energy of red. I built the full visual system outward from the dragon, then documented everything in a design manual so student designers, supervised by me as creative director, could execute consistently without breaking the brand. On the communication side, I advised the team on social media strategy and shaped the visual direction of every post without running the channel myself.

The brand helped Skyro stand out enough to fill its first intake with 60 students. Today the school has 140 students, 5,000+ Instagram followers managed by a dedicated marketing team I helped set up, and is preparing for external study programmes and a second building. The student designers I directed are now part of the school’s ongoing creative output.