School of Design
A rebrand and microsite campaign for a more inclusive and diverse future at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Design.
In the spring of 2021, I worked with five communication design students and faculty to restrategize the School of Design’s admissions outreach to inspire and inform a more diverse background of high school students about our stellar design program.
In this process, I contributed to the auditing and branding, then oversaw the expansion of our branding into a microsite and social media platforms. I then designed and printed a yearbook with custom typefaces and illustrations for our Senior Class of 2021.
The Problem
It was our initiative to communicate with prospective students—especially those from underrepresented backgrounds— to help them learn more about our program, address questions, and ultimately see themselves in the design field.
Our current student classes showed an extreme lack of diversity of non-Asian and BIPOC students, and our current website displayed a lack of effective communication and accessibility towards those without previous design understanding or higher education.
Our Solution
We designed a inclusive brand strategy with visual elements that encompass the work of alumni, the place we work, and our attention to craft, vision, and process.
Visual Rebrand
While staying true to our classic School of Design orange, we created a bolder color palette that characterized our spunky and bold creative process. The typestack honors our confidence and quirky creativity.
Campaign Strategy
With a fresh visual brand and a database of amazing alumni and student work, we crafted a campaign language: “Make It”, simply explaining what we do at the School of Design: Make.
“Make It” represents design in a non-designer friendly way through quirky but all-encompassing language, and allows flexible usage while maintaining the same spirit. “Make it Here”, “Make it All, “We Made it”, and “Make it beautiful”, etc. are ways that we used this phrase to start various discussions.
Our promotional content showcases design through a vast range of mediums and media and provide conversational peer-to-peer tips on how to create a portfolio and apply to the School of Design.
Admissions Microsite
We designed a microsite and made it friendly, rhythmic, conversational, and informational. This site answers questions about applications, but more importantly, design. It also provides a line of early mentorship through current design students and alumni.
Senior Yearbook
As part of our rebrand, we designed the first School of Design yearbook for our graduating senior class of 2021.
I designed a custom typeface for the cover and a flexible system of personalized symbols that cherish the quirky personalities and unique design styles of our senior class.
