Additional Play Projects
ASUCD Creative Media
Corporate branding and marketing initiatives for UC Davis' design and advertising agency.
Elementee
Amplifying career needs in tech and gamifying an intimate dynamic within mentors at UC Davis.
A design publication that discusses sociopolitical issues affecting individuals and our communities.
In each annual issue, the award winning student-run organization, InPrint Magazine, showcases the work, perspectives, and advice of students, alumni, faculty, and community members across disciplines. As an organization, InPrint also provides a collaborative space for students to grow as interdisciplinary creatives by engaging in graphic and web design, writing, photography, and marketing. We challenge our readers and members to think critically about their role as humans of the 21st century and give way to stories and voices that can resonate through all platforms.
In June 2021, I began serving as the Marketing and Design Director. Here, I feature programs, flyers, and merch I designed and developed throughout my time on board.
Approximately 400 Instagram followers, composed of UC Davis students, registered organizations, alumni, faculty, and parents.
I’ve learned that the key to success with social media and digital marketing is creating visual languages that followers can utilize to recognize the meaning of your post.
When I transitioned into this position after my Spring Quarter, I immediately began planning our Fall Recruitment for the next year. Using Asana and other project management tools, I prepared deliverables and deadlines for my team to begin working on projects throughout the summer.
For Fall Recruitment I brainstormed a variety of themes together with my team. We ultimately went with a budding floral theme to allude to the theme of our upcoming issue, REVIVAL. The imagery of a budding flowers symbolized new growth. This theme takes an elevated approach to our illustrative work and I am thrilled to offer my team opportunities to expand their skillset in design, videography, and social media. I have also developed themed-meeting decks for our weekly General Meetings.
I developed a 6 week marketing plan for our release of the organization's 6th issue, REVIVAL. The issue was centered around ways to rebuild and restructure our communities post-pandemic, particularly in the economic, social, and political realm. To market our magazine, I created social media graphics, merchandise designs, tabled at weekly art markets to teach others about InPrint's mission, and prepared speakers and slide decks for the yearly release party. The following graphics were in coordination with the unique graphic standard the team developed for this issue.
Social events use similar visual elements – an undulating border, a call-to-action header, and cute gravity-defying graphics that relate to the activity. The graphics were consistent with InPrint's graphic standard.
The Valentine's days grams were a promotional fundraiser held to generate extra funds. Our designers, including myself, created 3 different Valentine's themed cards. We paired these cards in a small gift bag with a squishy toy and candy for $4. The campaign was a success and we sold out of all our grams.
Our bingo fundraiser asked InPrint members to generate funds to print Issue 6: Revival by posting graphics to their Instagram stories. Their followers would donate money which would be forwarded to the club. To encourage members to participate, this micro-campaign spanned 5 days. It utilized the branding for Issue 6: Revival to exemplify the possibilities with the newly introduced color palette.
A long-term campaign featuring 1 of 8 board members per week. The board member spends one full day “vlogging” their activities using the Instagram story feature. The content of the vlog ranges from Q+A’s to schedule updates. I was considering ways in which we could create discourse amongst the InPrint community using the Instagram account. In 2020 during the pandemic, I felt awkward making small talk over Zoom, especially when it was distracting from the work we were doing. I really only became closer with other club members once it was safe to meet in person. With my past experiences in mind, I saw the potential in Instagram to break online social barriers.
Objectives
1) Humanize InPrint Magazine by showing the personalities and faces of the board that run it. This opens the floor for socialization, creating a warm environment for club members and thus sparking interest in the club campus-wide.
2) Normalize the ups and downs of college life. Show that everyone experiences tough deadlines and nights where they don’t get enough sleep, while simultaneously showing that it is okay to take breaks.
3) Find common ground. Provide audiences with avenues of connecting to others through relatable content, such as sharing hobbies and study habits.
4) Allude to the upcoming release of Issue 6: Revival in Spring 2022 by using floral imagery.
Takeaways
While the takeovers greatly boosted engagement, they did not encourage interaction amongst a larger community – rather, they helped the board members get to know the general members. This is good so that we can introduce them to one another based on our knowledge, but moving forward, the board and I will have to think of methods to encourage more group socialization online if meeting in person is not possible.
As I concluded my day posting and interacting with my audience, I came to some realizations.
You cannot distill an entire person into a number. It’s true that algorithms and statistics in social media tell us useful information to help us reach larger audiences, but getting lost in that mentality reduces the value of the individual. I had nuanced, one-on-one conversations with audiences in response to my takeover that contradicted the minimization effects of social media.
Leading an entire marketing campaign and event was challenging and rewarding. I learned to trust others in helping me develop a project and delegate tasks efficiently. When I encountered obstacles, I asked for advice from my teammates, which helped us create a successful event.
Here are some photos I captured of my team and I and our work for Issue 6 REVIVAL!
