Postgraduate prospectus
the challenge
One of the University of Derby’s most critical recruitment tools, the Postgraduate Prospectus and wider branding have to communicate complex academic content to a diverse audience ranging from recent graduates to experienced professionals.
Updating branding
The existing branding needed modernising, lacking a clear visual hierarchy and needed to evolve with the corporate brand.
Redefining confidence
The Postgraduate branding had to be redefined as a confident, contemporary and highly readable publication that could present high volumes of information clearly, supporting long-term recruitment objectives across print and digital formats.
Developing the system
Using shapes within the University of Derby logo itself to create frames and visual devices throughout the postgraduate branding.
Expermenting with layouts
Experimenting with creating a visual system: Gradients and colour were used selectively to maintain engagement without compromising clarity in content-heavy environments.
the approach
The postgraduate branding was given its own brand system; a ground-up editorial rebrand redefining the overall look and feel allowing it to feed into wider campaign outputs, influencing future brand direction. It introduced new visual devices for storytelling to a multi-disciplinary audience and scaled to accommodate content-heavy applications while being suitable for print and digital-first campaign touchpoints.
Cover exploration
Variations on the front cover of the PG Prospectus were explored and iterated on before the final version (top) was decided upon.
Varied use
Examples of the campaign used across multiple channels.
the outcome
Evolving an existing brand system from the ground-up involves concepts, multiple iterations and consistency over time on a large scale. This rebranding has been successful, taking into account a varied campaign release strategy involving print, digital and OOH advertising which has resulted in a significant uplift in applications through the pipeline and has become a core visual direction for the University going forward.