Boston University, College of Fine Arts
My Role: Branding & Identity Design, Web Design, UX Design, Print Design, Digital Design, Art Direction, Project Management
Design: Brittany Latham, Freelance
My Role: Branding & Identity Design, Web Design, UX Design, Print Design, Digital Design, Art Direction, Project Management
Design: Brittany Latham, Freelance
Content: Evan Smith, Programming & Media Manager, & Jessica Caccamo, Director of Admissions
Print Partner: Signature Printing
The Brief
“Boston University College of Fine Arts (CFA) is a community of fine and performing artists – musicians, visual artists, and theater-makers – who believe in the power of creativity.” Since 1872, CFA strongly emphasizes academic and artistic rigor with real-world application. Three schools unite to define the College of Fine Arts – the School of Music, the School of Theatre, and the School of Visual Arts – each cultivating award-winning artists local to Boston and worldwide. As a CFA Alumna, I was thrilled when asked to design CFA’s flagship branding and recruitment materials, including individual viewbooks for each school, a traveling counselor piece, and, later, the 2020 graduate showcase website for the School of Theatre.
Discovery
The initial Discovery process took place over the course of two sessions, an initial intake session and a concept presentation of sketches. As a CFA Alumna working closely with the Director of Admissions and Programming & Media Manager, the client team wanted to emphasize creative freedom and that I take my own experiences as a former student to inform the design decisions and the direction for this project.
Initial Pain Points
- A flexible yet consistent design system is needed that highlights the differences among school and program offerings and the unity of schools under the College of Fine Arts. The design system must be easy to understand when handed off to in-house designers for materials throughout the school year.
- Existing materials do not reflect the artistic process, only finished products. The hands-on, nitty-gritty student experience is not reflected in design decisions.
- Admissions counselors need a traveling piece designed to catch interest enough to take and practical enough for students to keep later on.
Applied Outcomes
- Structure, content, and material sizes feel personable and invite you into college offerings and student processes.
- A newly enhanced design system allows for creative flexibility among materials and is easily adaptable across platforms by the client’s in-house designers.
- The traveling counselor piece is interactive, folding down to a lookbook and folding open to a poster, making it easy to carry and display.
Design Highlights
- Layering styles conceptually represent the multi-dimensional student experience and individuals themselves.
- A flexible color palette that represents the College of Fine Arts. Individually, each school uses two palette colors, creating a visual color system to differentiate each school's identity.
- Fluid typographic treatments conceptually represent the constant movement of students and, thus, the continuous fluidity of academic rigor at BU.
- Photography showcases a complete package of CFA and its schools, highlighting textures, grit, students in process, and final project outcomes.
Audience
- Prospective students and parents
- Current and prospective donors
- Current and prospective faculty and staff
- CFA alumni
- CFA students
- CFA affiliate partners
