Engage 2026 – John Hendron

In 2014 when I was promoted to Director of Innovation & Strategy, the development of our school division’s strategic plan became a new responsibility. I still had the role after those six years were up, and I led the effort to develop the next strategic plan, which we called Engage 20/26.

I was in a unique position to not only spearhead the collaborative development of the plan across parent stakeholders, students, staff, and the school board, but I’d ultimately be the one to prepare the final plan document.

For this project I used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop for the graphics and laid the project out in Apple Pages.

Download the full plan (PDF) or view some images below.

The introductory page includes revised icons developed for the first plan’s branding for the core values, vision, mission, and three goal areas. The “G banner” logo was rendered in blue, to match the color scheme for this design and “Engage 20/26” was set in what was then a “standard” angle effect. Helvetica Neue thin was chosen as the main text font and headings (not seen here) were rendered in the older ITC Mendoza.

Here the ITC Mendoza heading is seen, alongside the text in Helvetica Neue.

As with any good design, consistent touches gave the design its fortitude. Seen here are the consistent use of a color palette, fonts, and formatting.

I would go on to provide strategic planning support at the Virginia Department of Education and later at PDK International.