How I refreshed a language school brand I’d been designing since 2016

I've worked with Big Apple, a Spanish language school in Belarus, since 2016 — I designed their first website that August. Ten years later, the school needed a visual refresh: the structure still worked, but the brand felt dated and the homepage carried almost no copy to explain who they are.

The brief was design-led — update the style, make the site feel current, and add positioning statements that build trust before someone opens the course catalog. Playful line illustrations, a single lime accent, and clearer typography carry the new brand voice across desktop and mobile.

2016 site — first version I designed

Homepage

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I rebuilt the homepage section by section — each block with its own desktop layout and a mobile composition, not a scaled-down desktop. Several of these narrative sections did not exist on the 2016 site; the earlier version I made focused on practical information, while this round adds the brand layer on the homepage itself.

Hero

A clear headline, supporting line, and trial-lesson call to action set the tone immediately. On mobile, illustration and CTA sit above the fold so the school reads as approachable before the first scroll.

Positioning statements

Three cards explain how the school teaches — spontaneous speech, step-by-step practice, CEFR alignment. This is new homepage content: visitors understand the method before they compare courses.

Benefits

A “Why BigApple?” grid answers the question before the catalog — atmosphere, methodology, and outcomes in scannable blocks with illustration accents.

Course catalog

Programs are grouped by format — general, business, weekend intensives, corporate — so families and professionals can self-select without reading every line of copy.

Teachers & social proof

Team portraits and student reviews sit mid-page — the school leans on word of mouth, so the design gives faces and quotes room to breathe.

Conversion block

The closing CTA repeats the trial-lesson offer with motion-led background and a single action — consistent with the hero, so the page ends on the same invitation it opened with.

The refreshed site is live at bigapple.by. The homepage now introduces the brand before the catalog — methodology, proof, and personality come first, then courses.

Inner pages follow the same visual system: About Us carries the school story, the method page explains teaching principles with illustrations, and FAQ handles common questions without breaking the layout rhythm.

The hardest visual call was restraint — one lime accent, one illustration style, one voice across every block. Early explorations used more color and stock photography; the final system relies on line art and typography so the school feels distinctive without competing with course content.

Returning to a client after ten years changed how I framed the work — less about replacing something broken, more about evolving a brand I already knew. The 2016 site did its job; this version adds the story the school had grown into.