A short placement at a educational institution. This was a hugely varied role – from the creation of maps for Open Event visitors on InDesign, to vast physical and social campaigns to attract new students.
The strategy here was brand awareness: it was imperative to fill required student intake numbers and subsequently secure the related funding. The margins for student numbers were relatively slim, so campaigns had to be fast acting and effective, but also preferably remain in the mind of prospective students and parents 6, 12, even 24 months down the line when the chance to actually pick Brooklands College came around – so being memorable and lasting was vital.
This is a sample of some of the work I undertook there – a seasonal design project in which I used InDesign:
Designing the menus for the on site restaurant was very important because this was the best way to exhibit the quality of their catering department, and it fed into to the strategy: Garner interest for the great value restaurant amongst local parents and grand parents, whom in turn will influence the decision of children and grand children when choosing a college or further education institution, particularly if vocationally minded.
I regularly wrote the copy for the new redesigned website. Being informative and easily digestible was important to maintaining online traffic. Potential clients use the website to draw information to influence their educational choices, so keeping potential students in mind whilst writing informed my tone of voice.
As this was a marketing position, I was able to do a vast array of tasks in my time at Brooklands, including:
- Monitoring social media accounts and planning a campaign to increase student intake for the coming academic year
- Designing posters and stands, from directional aids for open events to public posters for train stations
- Taking and editing photographs for use in various forms of multimedia
- I showed Philip Hammond MP where the bathroom was
- Ensured cohesion of typefaces, colours and themes across the website and physical instances on and off-site
The variety in the work I did here was great experience – it afforded me a chance to juggle some massively different projects simultaneously and gain some rather handy skills.
Brendan Conlan 