Lori Schmidt and Todd Haynie. Brad Mitchell

Lori Schmidt and Todd Haynie: When is Creative “Too Creative” for Admissions Campaigns?

You’re a designer. You crave those opportunities to exercise your creative chops and push the design envelope. On a college or university campus, new recruitment campaigns present just that opportunity!

Or do they? Today’s prospective students have definite ideas about being “marketed” to when it comes to their college or university selection process. How conceptual can you really be with your creative direction? At what point does design need to take a back seat to clear marketing messages? And what visual trends are resonating with students?

Lori Schmidt, of Lime Twig Group, and Todd Haynie from Eastern Arizona College will show you how they’ve balanced eye-catching design with primary marketing messages to resonate with the right students.
Eastern Arizona College is Arizona’s oldest community college and has a unique set of marketing distinctions. The college profiles more like a private, four-year residential college in many ways.

Everyone can learn from this interesting case study, and they’ll take a look at other campaigns that have resonated well with students, and some that haven’t. Come prepared to share your thoughts and ideas!



Brad Mitchell: Transitioning Alumni Magazines from Print to Web, and Ten Tips for Creating Online Video.


Our design landscape has certainly changed rapidly in the past five years. Technology moves at a rapid pace, and everyone needs tips and strategies to keep up!

Brad Mitchell and his team from Missouri State University used an easily customizable WordPress ttheme to launch their print magazine online, and they did it with just a few staff members and students.

Many institutions have ‘gone digital’ with their alumni magazines by posting simple PDF versions or by paying third-party vendors to create Flash page-flip versions. Brad will demonstrate how Missouri State University designed and built their new magazine website. The presentation will cover the challenges of transitioning from print to web, the design and implementation process, social media integration and interactivity with readers.

And once you have that great site, you’ll need video content. Brad also presents “Ten Tips for Creating Online Videos.” Video is not only is it the fastest growing mobile application, it is also the fastest growing medium in the history of the world. So what are you waiting for? In this session he’ll cover basics like necessary equipment and setup costs; how to interview students, faculty and alumni to get authentic answers and quotes; and finally outline best practices for utilizing free tools like YouTube, Vimeo and iTunes U to host and spread your videos via social media outlets and your institutional websites.


For the next blog, I’ll outline the sessions from Garrick Chow. Garrick offers a session on iMovie, which is great beginning if you’ve never attempted video. With Garrick and Brad’s sessions, you’ll come away with the confidence to get started making your own video content.

Garrick also has an amazing session planned on how to publish to the ipad... Stay tuned!