The Design Process Part 2
Science and Engineering and Branding! Oh My!
I recently had the privilege of designing for Tulane University’s School of Science and Engineering (SSE). Every design project brings new and interesting challenges. Here are a few I faced:
- Create a new branding for a subject (science and engineering) that I knew little about.
- Administer the new branding across a website, handouts, brochures and other print materials.
- Design within Tulane University’s standards and guidelines while effectively creating a new look for SSE.
Being the art chick that I always have been, I’m sad to admit I didn’t really pay that much attention in Biology 101. Design is much more than color and font choice. My issue for this project: I had no idea how to visually represent “Science and Engineering.” Good, old-fashioned collaboration is often a lifeline for a designer. Luckily for me, the president of Mudbug Media has a Biomedical Engineering degree from Tulane. He and I were able to collaborate on imagery that would address not only science but engineering as well. After my science lesson, it was much easier to create something dynamic and contextually correct.
Tulane University has very organized standards and guidelines, which makes it easy on a designer. They are specific about how they want their logo to be implemented, but I was allotted much freedom with choosing how to implement SSE’s new branding. I was given a foundation of colors to use, with a little creative room to branch out as well. Overall, I chose to stick with Tulane’s blues with the accent of their lime green and steered clear of their main forest green color to give SSE a feel of their own without looking totally disconnected from the school as a whole.
I established SSE’s new branding while designing their website homepage and some print materials. Bringing the web design into the print pieces opened up a world of paper choices, font choices and a need for more of an editorial layout. I was able to take elements used on the home page and change them up for use on the print pieces. I incorporated the rounded edge of the main picture on the home page into the print designs and used bold, all capitalized, titles in both web and print. I also carried through blue monochromatic science imagery in both the print and web pieces.
Overall, these Tulane University School of Science and Engineering pieces made for a fun and exciting design challenge. The staff at SSE is also a pleasure to work with, making any project more enjoyable.
