About the Client:
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) is an on-campus organization at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire that provides programming and assistance for faculty and staff to enhance their work as educators. Their services aim to prepare faculty for a successful teaching experience through events targeting personal and professional growth.
CETL is best known for its Teaching Academy, an elective 5-day summer session that includes workshops on course design, student engagement, academic integrity, as well as an experienced faculty peer review to assist new professors in developing their own instruction style here at UWEC.
The Challenge:
Teaming up with a group of other student designers, our tasks were to address CETL's rebrand needs and design features to be utilized specifically for their Teaching Academy events while encouraging involvement from professors in the program.
CETL's main goal for this project was to increase the recruitment and retention of both permanent and part-time professors on campus. Our primary focus was placed on design deliverables to encourage faculty to utilize CETL's services for their own personal benefit, as well as for the benefit of the overall student experience.
Early-Stage Sketches:
Our first priority was to brainstorm and create initial concepts for CETL's new logo. By taking keywords associated with the organization and looking at other existing CETL logos, I was able to determine what I wanted to avoid and focus on using these keywords to research and sketch out ideas. We could then bring all of our drawings together to discuss strengths and weaknesses among our designs.
This process allowed the group to work individually and then come together to talk about possible design solutions from the drawings presented. Our discussions helped us determine changes needed to certain designs and determine which logo was most successful in conveying CETL as an organization.
Branding Guide:
After discussion on various sketches, fonts, and color schemes, we established a cohesive brand identity to draw attention to events and emails from CETL. These set features confirm our logo variations, body texts, and colors in order to keep our individual work and other elements cohesive. Our finalized guide gave us logo variations that could be included across multiple designs and products that were being developed.
The colors that we chose to use were selected to reflect CETL and who they are; purple for wisdom, blue for technological expertise, yellow for warmth and positivity, and orange for humanistic approachability. Together, our color scheme creates a welcoming, professional, and bright feeling that reinforces our message of sharing positive perspectives, relationships, and experiences at the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.
Digital Mockups & Deliverables:
After a branding guide was set in place, our team divided ourselves among the deliverables that needed to be designed for CETL and the Teaching Academy. Throughout our individual work progress, we continued to get together to discuss alterations and set rules to maintain cohesion among our pieces.
We started by prioritizing the design of general CETL related materials, which included: email and Canvas banners, an informational folder, business cards, merchandise, and office décor. We were then able to produce deliverables for the Teaching Academy, incorporating both print and digital media, such as promotional posters and digital displays, directional signage, event agendas, table tents, name cards, and meal tickets.
CETL Branding
Email Formating & Canvas Web Banners:
Email is CETL’s primary method of communication. To help these emails stand out in an inbox, a general email banner was created to be utilized on each email sent to increase brand consistency and recognition. An additional top email banner is also used to promote the specific email focus.
In the image below, we are promoting the Teaching Academy with an engaging banner to catch the attention of adjunct professors who might normally not focus on a general email in their inbox. We were able to implement some of the prominent benefits provided through the program into our creative messaging for specific Teaching Academy promotional materials.
As Canvas is the current platform for their Teaching Academy online courses, a canvas banner was created and uses an abstract design in an effort to make their canvas course a little more visually appealing and not bland.
CETL Folders:
Updating the brochures CETL used in the past, a folder system was developed that would be provided to new and existing professors. The folder materials supply a physical, professional representation of all the information CETL offers and stand out from other schools’ simple brochures when representing the UW-Eau Claire. The faculty can also bring these folders to use during the Teaching Academy to keep all their papers and items organized.
Contact Cards:
By utilizing our branded elements and bright color scheme, these contact cards are easily distinguishable from other UWEC materials and organizations. These can be handed out at various events to attract and establish a memorable relationship with potential faculty touring the university.
Merchandise:
CETL merchandise, such as mugs or pens were developed to be used around the office by employees, but could also be offered to prospective UW-Eau Claire employees as well. These items help to certify the connection and memory of visiting the CETL space and enhance their interest in what CETL has to offer. By providing multiple products with CETL’s logo many other on-campus professionals, including adjunct professors, will also develop brand awareness as they see these fun items being used by their fellow faculty.
Wall Art:
Wall art helps to create CETL’s identity within their office on the UWEC campus, while also developing a welcoming atmosphere in their inclusive spaces. These pieces show off their new logo and the design elements such as the main brand colors and graphics while reinforcing positive images of sponsored CETL events.
Teaching Academy
Posters:
I was tasked with two other group members to create promotional posters for the Teaching Academy. We reinstated the program benefits within our creative messaging so the posters were directed towards adjunct faculty.
Posting them in areas frequently visited by professors helps CETL to advertise and increase awareness for the Teaching Academy and encourage potential participants to find out more about the event. To broaden our outreach, we also included digital displays that can be added to TVs and signage across campus.
Welcome Banner & Directional Signage:
A large banner is hung outside the lecture hall where the events take place and assists those who might not be familiar with the campus to find the proper building. It welcomes new faculty to the program and leaves a positive lasting impression on the first day of orientation.
Directional signage is also displayed in the corridors to guide people to the correct room. An emphasis was placed on legibility, shown through large and easy-to-read fonts. The use of white on blue, which is one of the easiest color combinations to read was integrated and bold arrowheads provide quick visual cues to direct the viewer to their next location.
Agenda:
To assist participants with the Teaching Academy's busy schedule, these agendas are laid out in a manner that efficiently highlights dates and times of events that is easy to follow. Each event is listed with a simple description of what occurs during that time. Additionally, the notes section at the bottom allows those attending the Teaching Academy to write down important information as they go about their day.
Table Tents:
Table tents are another method of physical communication items for Teaching Academy events that provide important information for attendees. They could be used in a variety of ways to display abbreviated itineraries of the day’s events or similar promotional messages that are relevant to participants.
Name Tags:
Name tags assist in providing a clear distinction between presenters and participants at the Teaching Academy. Full-color name tags for presenters help people to identify who is speaking at these events, while attendees are differentiated by white cards for Teaching Academy participants or CETL staff supervising the event. They were designed to the same specifications as the former name tags, meaning they are still compatible with the original lanyards that can be reused year after year to minimize waste.
Meal Tickets/Food Order Stickers:
We developed meal tickets and stickers to be used as free lunches are offered for attending the Teaching Academy. The tickets and stickers are meant to correspond with each other, as well as communicate to the staff handing out lunches that the recipient is part of the Teaching Academy.
