Over the past few months, I have had the opportunity to work on a project for the BYU-Idaho Admissions office in helping them re-design some of their outreach material. After meeting with the Admissions Outreach Manager about the needs of the department, I decided to head up an effort to specifically re-design print material for postcards that get mailed out to prospective students.
At first, I felt both eager and daunted by the task. I was excited to bring a younger, cleaner look to the design of the postcards, but I was admittedly a little unsure of my ability to effectively use the adobe software or implement graphic design skills. The creative processes took me much longer in the beginning, but became much more smooth as I continued my work on the project. Towards the end of the project, I found myself re-visiting many of the things I had worked ion in the beginning and implementing some of my later-earned skills in order to help everything look its very best.
Overall, I am very happy with the way that the designs came out and so was my supervisor. It was empowering to take the project into my own hands and to put in the work to create these designs. I am grateful for this opportunity I had to develop and strengthen my skills for graphic design.
One of the biggest hardships I faced while working on this project was being able to create the branding that I wanted. In my head, I have an idea of what BYUI branding looks like, but it was really hard for me to learn how to create it. I knew what the font should look like, but struggled to find it or create it in the way that I thought it should be.
Another challenge I faced was the University approval process. This was a challenge that I did not foresee. Within my first few weeks of the project, I had completed a couple of designs and I wanted to get them approved by the University just to make sure that I was headed in the right direction and that my designs would be useful.
I figured the designs could be approved within a week. This is where I was wrong. Although I submitted some designs to my supervisor back in October, I did not receive any approvals until December. This was mostly due to scheduling conflicts between my supervisor and the individual he works with from University Relations to get these sort of things approved. They meet together somewhat regularly but for whatever reason had trouble aligning their schedules over these past few months.
Luckily, everything worked out. When my supervisor met with University Relations in December, they really liked my designs. They offered suggestions for a few minor tweaks but ultimately gave their approval. I made the quick edits and the designs were ready to go!
One of my favorite parts of this project was the creative freedom I had. When they asked me to begin re-designing postcards, they simply told me to highlight positive aspects of life at BYU-Idaho. By combining some resources I had from old postcards and adding my own ideas, I was able to generate these new ideas for appealing to prospective BYU-Idaho students.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed this project and am happy with the final outcomes. I’m grateful for this opportunity I got to develop my skills and create something tangible. Everything ended up getting approved and hopefully these designs will be getting mailed out next year to prospective BYU-Idaho students.
Attached below are some additional designs and my video overview of the project.
