PROJECT
Postsecondary access campaign for the state of Virginia
MY ROLE
Project Manager/Lead Designer
CLIENT
GOAL
Increase awareness of and access to postsecondary education
TIME
22 weeks
JUMP TO
PURPOSE
The purpose of this project was to establish a statewide strategy for postsecondary access and a subsequent outreach campaign to raise awareness of the value of postsecondary education and encourage more students to enroll in and complete a postsecondary degree or credential.
DELIVERABLES
The strategy and campaign included a focus on students with traditionally lower rates of postsecondary enrollment and attainment, including African American, Latinx, first-generation and low-income students. The following deliverables were handled in phases.
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1. RESEARCH
Researched promising practices in other states and nationally and identify strengths and areas of improvement in Virginia based on those practices.
2. STRATEGY
Provided recommendations and an implementation plan for the strategy and campaign that was inclusive of serving students with lower rates of postsecondary enrollment, their families, and their schools across the Commonwealth of Virginia.
3. BRANDING & COMMUNICATIONS PLAN
Developed a branding and communications plan that included logos, a sample website and materials to support the strategy and campaign.
SIMPLIFIED TIMELINE
RESEARCH
To begin the discovery phase we started with a set of questions that were created by stakeholders. We then spent four weeks gathering and analyzing data. Qualitative research included stakeholders interviews, user interviews and surveys. Quantitative research was conducted by two higher education research experts. The deliverable was a 35 page report document formatted for print and digital application.
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QUESTIONS WHICH PROMPTED THE RESEARCH
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What is SCHEV and key state partners doing today and what is already planned?
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How are these activities going and what impacts to attainment targets can be correlated with these activities?
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What are they missing?
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What UX best practices and gaps can we identify based on our independent audit of existing SCHEV and partner websites and communications channels (e.g., website information architecture, areas of usability concern, branding/message misalignment, user data such as clicks, user demographics time on webpages, abandonment rates, customer relationship management data)?
Research report
FROM THE DATA...
White students are 9.3% more likely to graduate high school in Virginia than those of other racial/ethnic groups.
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Which audiences are currently being most effectively reached or systematically missed in current communication channels and messaging?
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How engaged are local partners closest to students and families through current state campaigns, channels, toolkits, and messages (K-12 counselors, career and technical education providers, Parent Teacher Associations, workforce boards/chambers of commerce, etc.
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What campaigns outside of SCHEV’s direct control are occurring in the State that need to be factored into a future state branding and outreach campaign strategy to maximize synergies and avoid conflicting messages where possible(e.g., Governor’s initiatives, workforce development initiatives, campus and K12 initiatives)
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How can we begin initial literature reviews and analysis of other empirically researched studies on what works and for whom to supplement scans on what other states and groups are doing?
Research report
STRATEGY
We developed a strategy informed by the research, design thinking workshops and by creating a series of validated user personas to help define and prioritize at a more granular level the different consumers of information based on different market segments (age/grade, demographics, income, and location). We applied each unique user persona to a user journey. The deliverable was a 33 page report document which included a the personas, user journeys, design thinking workshop outcomes and a detailed campaign action plan.​​​​
DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOPS
We planned and hosted a set of three design workshops. The participants were SCHEV stakeholders and designers. Each workshop had a variety of tasks and activities performed by teams and individuals. The workshops were scaffolded and built on insights learned previously. These workshops were essential in building and validating personas and user journeys.​​​​
Strategy and campaign action plan
PERSONAS + USER JOURNEYS CLICK FOR DETAILS
1. 1st Generation
2. ESL Students
3. Parents
CAMPAIGN ACTION PLAN OVERVIEW
Campaign Objectives
What is the primary objective of the campaign?
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Increase postsecondary enrollment to 70% across the state of Virginia.
What specific action do we want the audience to take?
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Enroll in postsecondary education.
What are the secondary objectives of the campaign?
To raise awareness of the value of postsecondary education.
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Encourage more students to enroll in and complete a postsecondary degree or credential.
What is the single most important message to be communicated?
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Postsecondary education includes a variety of pathways and offers options for ALL people. It is for all people, and there are MANY tools and resources available for those who are low-income or traditionally underserved. Postsecondary education is a valuable resource that will give students more opportunities and options for the future.
Target Audience(s)
Who are the target audiences?
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Students with traditionally lower rates of postsecondary enrollment and attainment, including African American, Latinx, first-generation and low-income students.
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Counselors, Teachers and Parents/Guardians.
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Communication + Media Channels
What communication and media channels will be used to promote the campaign?
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SCHEV team
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Administrators
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Counselors
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Non-Profit partners
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SMS Text
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Email
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QR Codes
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Website Banner Ads
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Social Media, Social Media Takeover
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Posters
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Stickers
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Presentation Template
BRANDING + COMMUNICATION PLAN
We knew this was going to be the heaviest lift for this project concerning both time and resources. We had four dedicated designers who worked together seamlessly to divide and conquer work on a daily basis. We created a roadmap and a chart to assign and track work. Team organization was essential in delivering this project on time.
LOGOS + UNIFIED MESSAGING
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We all felt strongly that the best place to begin was to create the name and logo followed by a tagline and messaging. It took four designers three weeks to brainstorm, sketch, refine, survey stakeholders, survey students and finalize the branding. During this time we also began to create shell documents for the rest of the deliverables.​​​​​
The logo is the first item in the Brand Style Guide
WEBSITE
We were charged with creating the website design. SCHEV had already arranged for another organization to build the site. We created the mobile version first in order to design up. Click MOBILE DESIGN or DESKTOP DESIGN to see our original layout. LEVELUPVIRGINIA.ORG will take you to the SCHEV website where they used our mocks as a design guide.​​​​​
Desktop homepage
CAMPAIGN MATERIALS
We continued to meet with SCHEV weekly and collaborated to understand the needs for outreach materials. We started with a list of standard materials and revised it to cater to the users and timeline.
We ended up creating:​​​​​
4 - 11x17 Poster Designs
4 - 5x7 Digital Flyer Designs
3 - 3x3 Sticker Designs
3 - Text Templates
2 - 300x250 Medium Banner Ads
2 - 300x50 Mobile Banner Ads
1 - Powerpoint Presentation Template
1 - Google Slides Presentation Template
Sticker, poster and digital flyer
INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDES
We made the Outreach Playbook and Social Media Guide to assist SCHEV in implementing the Campaign Materials appropriately and effectively.