Going to College is a Big Deal
Jackson State University was founded in 1877 as Natchez Seminary, and through its first hundred expanded to a teacher’s college, then a liberal arts college, and finally a fully-fledged university in the 1970s.
A historically black college or university (HBCU), JSU has been the school of choice for many first-in-family students of underserved communities. These student populations often don’t have the benefits of generational knowledge of the higher ed system, nor the financial resources to attend school without debt.
The university was looking to put together approachable yet comprehensive visual summaries about the admissions, orientation, and financial aid processes in order to present higher education as an achievable goal earlier in these students’ academic careers.
Picturing Success at JSU
Visual Strategists from ImageThink’s studio team would work with school administrators to map out the student journey. Thinking holistically, ImageThink proposed a suite of visuals that would depict a typical student journey from an initial tour, through application and admission, and through orientation.
By incorporating the school colors and mascot, the visuals would have a clear connection to other branded school collateral. The illustration would be fun and energetic, and because it would be created in studio, the university administrators would have ample opportunity to polish and refine the message, and final visuals would be crisp and cleanly rendered.
Step by Step
Over the course of a year, ImageThink and JSU partnered on several projects, from live, facilitated brainstorming workshops, to the design and completion of several journey maps and displays that the JSU team can use as educational and recruitment tools.
As one administrator put it, “Our campus constituents are very excited about the work that has taken place between the university and ImageThink. So much so that departments are still asking about the services and how they can use the services. I make a referral at least once a week and sometimes more.”
