My senior year of college, I was hired as a Marketing Assistant for the Division of Student Affairs. Tasked with creating promotional materials for Binghamton University’s various departments and programs, I was responsible for designing print flyers, web banners, and social media stories. With each department came a different audience I was trying to reach, such as first-generation students who wanted to feel represented, students dealing with the stress of exam season, or individuals who wanted to hold themselves accountable on their health journey.
Although working within the University’s chosen color palette and typography proved to be challenging at first, over time I was able to find creative ways to make each piece of material have its own fresh look. Seeing Gotham and Museo Slab on every piece of marketing material might become familiar to the student’s eye, but I utilized the things I did have control over, images and layout, to create a more interesting piece.
The process of creating each deliverable started with the requirements: color scheme, approved text, date and time information, and appropriate sizing. Within these boundaries, I would first consider who the audience was. For example, Pet-a-Pooch is a program where professors would bring their dogs to campus for the student body to destress during finals week. This marketing required friendlier colors and graphics to communicate a message. On the other hand, Move Your Way is a campaign that encourages students and faculty to challenge themselves to stay healthy. This flyer I made includes a clean, fresh look that communicates a sense of movement and accountability.
After sending a first draft to my boss, I would then receive feedback from the department I was working for. Sometimes the changes would be minor, such as fixing original text or changing the colors. However, at times there was push back with the complete layout.
Working within what the department wanted and what fit the audience’s needs best proved to be a learning experience, and I was able to make multiple iterations of a poster to provide more options for the department.
This type of approach helped me to think in systems, where I could expand a certain design to other materials such as Instagram stories and digital banners to see how well it would hold up.