London (J Term 2019)

A great class of 12 students (biggest group yet for me). Looking forward to taking them to some cool companies and design related venues over the next couple of weeks.

Here we go on another wonderful Study Abroad trip to London. First couple of days under our belts. Weather is cooperating nicely. Just a shame I picked up my traditional pre-trip cold – fighting it hard, but it’s kicking my butt so far!

Peoria Civic Center Wayfinding

Final assignment of the semester was a wonderful wayfinding opportunity. In teams, the students were asked to review, evaluate and redesign the complete signage system system for the Peoria Civic Center. This included proposals for an accompanying App that would assist the physical wayfinding system and also work as a brand loyalty tool outside of the building environment. The deadline presentations went very well with the six teams presenting to a client group of 13 individuals from all areas of the Civic Centers administration.

Below are a few screenshots from the different team presentations and a pdf of the ‘winning’ teams full presentation. We are hopeful that the PCC will be able to utilize some of the ideas and look forward to working with them again to help develop the wayfinding further. Thank you Jessica and your colleagues for this exciting collaborative venture.

Continue reading “Peoria Civic Center Wayfinding”

Eric Petersen Sings Broadway

A return to the hilltop for Eric Petersen will see him singing a selection of tunes from Broadway hits (with maybe a Christmas song or two thrown in at the end!). Great fun creating the promotional piece for this event.

Vacation Rental Property Insurance Branding Project

As always, a wonderfully challenging branding brief from our friend, Jim Flynn. Thank you to you and Karen, for your support and great feedback.

Click on each of the four logo’s to see each teams full branding presentation.

Project Title: Brand X Vacation Rental Property Insurance

Project Description: Brand Development/Digital Marketing Initiative

BackgroundBrand X Vacation Property Rental Insurance is a new player in the market – and up against stiff competition.

The challenges for breaking into this insurance space are multifold – driving the critical need to differentiate and be found.

The properties Brand X covers are vacation properties (homes, condos, cabins, etc.) rented out for short-term vacation stays through the likes of www.HomeAway.com and www.VRBO.com. Often times, vacation properties are purchased as investment properties, for the property owners to realize income during the times the property otherwise would be sitting vacant. However, the majority of vacation property owners do not know what they do not know. As such, they are not aware that as soon as the rental lease is signed and income is realized, their standard homeowners insurance is null and void – because now the property is considered a commercial entity. With this, the property owners are left vulnerable and liable for catastrophic events such as fire, property damage, theft and injury.

Mandatories: (What must be included – logo, address, theme, etc.)

  • Company naming (recommended name and rational for why + 3 alternative names)
  • Logo and tagline
  • Brand positioning, supported by messaging & imagery
  • Website design
  • Digital Brand launch to consumer market of vacation rental owners
  • Recommendations for an integrated marketing strategy, to include –
  • Thought leadership initiative (see additional information_
  • Organic Social Media
  • Paid online initiative –
  • Google Adwords
  • Google Display
  • Sponsored Social Media

And here are some photographs of the teams ‘in action’…

Continue reading “Vacation Rental Property Insurance Branding Project”

BU Study Abroad Program (re)Brand

Bradley University has a long established, wonderful Study Abroad program. With a reach of almost thirty different destinations, students can study, learn, and explore either for a short interim session, or for an entire semester.

The program needed a review of its brand and promotional deliverables, so this was a great opportunity to create a brief for the Brand Experience course.

Students were in teams/pairs. Here is a small cross section of some of their outcomes: Continue reading “BU Study Abroad Program (re)Brand”