Simply Fun

Honestly, no one can resist fun.  Even though we tend to relate fun mostly to the younger set, it is appealing to all ages.

Fun is perfect, then, for college promotional materials.  This is particularly true for community colleges where marketing efforts are frequently aimed at every age group in the community.  Seriously, let’s not be always so serious.  Evian is the gold-standard for bottled drinking water.  It rests its reputation on pure, good-for-you, drinking water.  That part is serious.  But they are savvy enough to realize that humor is a real eye-catcher.  Many of the studies that ‘they’ have done in the past several decades back up this fact.  You don’t even need to concern yourself with the ‘theys,’ you know humor grabs your attention.

These Evian ads are simply and streamlined.  Not a lot of words and clutter to get in the way of an impactful message.  The individual in each ad has an adorable image of a baby’s body on the t-shirt they are wearing.  Besides that, there is just the Evian logo and the phrase, “Live Young.”  Pow!  Sheer fun, irresistible and beautifully presented.

Think about opportunities to create visuals that step out of the expected or deadly serious scholarly mold.  Let’s face it, our goal is to get people to notice our images and accompanying message.  Who wouldn’t rather have fun doing it?

Bring On the Magic

Frequently, when I am designing a visual, I have a goal of creating a complex, yet enticing image.  I want a feeling of texture, richness, magic, or all of these.  Because, this echos real life and compels the viewer to stop and look.

This process is true whether the piece is for college media or any other.

Too often, it seems many of the visuals on college web sites and printed pieces run from the expected smiling student group to the truly lacking images that suffer from multiple problems.  I know there must be a certain amount of student shots as well as faculty and staff.  But to keep viewers interested and from going completely numb, how about mixing-in some more interesting visuals?

I recently put together a promotional piece for the back of our summer class schedule.  Here, at Mt. SAC, we try to periodically highlight the accomplishments of students and faculty.  Two of our music professors are outstanding and their choral groups have won numerous awards nationally and internationally.

Since, as teachers and conductors, they must somehow literally ‘pull’ magic out of their students, I had this idea that my visual must have a feeling of magic.

I’d love to hear some feedback and for others to post pieces you feel worked out particularly well.