École du Bayon

Educating disadvantaged children in Cambodia

Located in Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, near the Bayon temple of Cambodia, l’École du Bayon is a labor of love and compassion. The school was conceived in the mid-1990s by French expat Marcel, who stepped in after Lokta Chu Egk (a monk who sheltered orphans in the Preah Saar pagoda), suffered a fatal stroke. Marcel partnered with Mai—a Cambodian refugee who escaped from the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in 1975 and returned home in 1996—along with local monks and other humanitarians to construct a classroom on the land of the pagoda.

Today, l’École du Bayon is a non-profit organization (NGO) registered in France. Through sponsorship, the elementary school offers free education to orphans and other disadvantaged children of the region, and helps older children continue their studies so they may graduate from high school in Siem Reap.

At ZeCraft, we took on the task of redesigning the school’s identity and revamping its website and collateral. The result is a modern but classic marketing and information platform for the school and its side effort to help children and young adults throughout Cambodia. Fresh typography and a refined color palette contribute to the organization’s elegant call to action.

We customized Vista for the word BAYON in the school’s mark. Source Sans is used liberally throughout the rest of the branding, with the light, regular, and bold weights and italics seen in the Latin texts. Siemreap is incorporated as the Khmer counterpart to Source Sans Light and Regular, with Bayon Regular subbing in as the Khmer companion to Source Sans Bold.

With the rebranding and ongoing support from generous sponsors and partners, l’École du Bayon will grow and thrive, and continue to support the children of this impoverished nation.

Client: École du Bayon

Read about it on Typekit blog.