There are many online graduate programs available at West Virginia University. WVU's Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources alone now has 7, along with one certification program, and they needed a way to advertise these programs to potential students. It was important to appeal to current undergraduate at the college, who would be our primary audience returning to further their education. The solution was to advertise the programs across campus using digital signage and printed flyers to encourage recruitment.
Two students in an industrial setting, one female student wearing full safety vest and hard hat and one male student dressed casually, both examining notes on an iPad
Students examining a male student in full body motion tracking gear, moving his arm forward and making reading appear on the computer monitor.
A male student in front of several computer screens explaining complex diagrams and information.
I held several photo shoots to gather any content I didn't already have and pulled from our image database for the remaining images for each program. Then I created a template for all programs, so that each would have the same format and be a recognizable body of ads. The digital signage systems at WVU, formerly known as InfoStations, were installed both vertically and horizontally across the different campuses, so I had to ensure the images I used worked for both formats.
Masters in Artificial Intelligence. A student with glasses explains complex graphs on multiple computer screens.
Masters in Cybersecurity. A determined looking student smiles into the distance, the light from a computer screen casting a blue glow on his face.
Masters in Engineering Management. A female student explains notes on a clipboard to a male student, both in business professional attire.
Graduate Certificate in Midstream Petroleum Engineering. A female student with hearing protection examines as her professor points out a lever on a device.
Masters in Midstream Petroleum Engineering. A male student in a hat smiles as he holds and inspects a large drilling bit.
Ph.D. in Occupational Safety & Health. A student wearing full body motion capture gear smiles as he extends his arm for computer readings.
Masters in Safety Management. A female student in full construction gear examines an iPad with information with another male student.
Masters in Software Engineering. Two female students smile as they jointly work on a laptop.
After proofing each ad with the relevant departments and making sure website links were trackable to monitor engagement across digital signage, I also created flyers for printing and distributing and an ADA compliant PDF for sharing electronically. These were distributed widely amongst the Statler College's Student Services, Advising Center, and Career and Professional Development Center in order to reach a wide variety of students and encourage them to return to Statler's graduate programs.
This project was a valuable precursor for a future project, where I would be rebranding all 16 undergraduate major recruitment materials for the college; it gave me practice coordinating and executing content-specific photo shoots, templating the ads while making each program visually unique, and working with both digital and print. Overall, it helped target our students to return for their graduate degrees and further their expertise and education with WVU.
(The aforementioned recruitment project is still underway...but it will be on my website before 2027!)