Student Enrollment Campaign
Client: Tacoma Community College
My role: Concept, illustration, design, production, animation
The pandemic brought lives across the globe to a sudden halt. For many, that meant plans for higher education were put on hold. Like all colleges, Tacoma Community College was hit hard by a drop in enrollment, even as they worked to mitigate the effects with a pivot to remote, then hybrid learning. Their next campaign needed to be outstanding.
My team led focus groups to develop a series of messages tailored to the motivations of multiple distinct audiences: recent or soon-to-be high school grads, high school students wanting to earn college credits early, parents of high schoolers, adults looking to level up or change careers, and those without a high school diploma looking to get back on track. For visuals, I layered real student photos with colorful embellishments, and translated the collage effect across print and digital collateral, including a series of animated ads. To reach more facets of our target audiences, I built out the same digital assets in four additional languages.
The campaign was an unprecedented success. TCC saw a 30% increase in enrollment that fall, the largest of all area community colleges. The following year they asked for a revamped campaign, and I iterated upon the previous look-and-feel to deliver a similar stylistic vein, with new messaging and fresh, simplified graphics.
