Overview

While the Northwestern Alumni Association only made up part of my work while on Northwestern’s marketing team, their team required a robust amount of content that varied widely. In marketing terms, the NAA is the beginning of the fundraising funnel. Our goal was to provide value to alums; be it through career resources, sporting events, or general networking.

Key Objective

Connect Northwestern alumni (from 22 to 100+ years old) to their alma mater, maintaining engagement that can eventually lead to giving back to the institution.

Email

Email was the primary source for communicating with alums. Because the alumni association is so large, there were many departments sending out daily emails, for a variety of events, newsletters, or other reasons. My largest challenge as a designer was making sure this large breadth of emails maintained consistent branding, while still being relevant and engaging. Due to internal software limitations, design constraints were also a constant consideration.

Marketing

One of my most satisfying projects was working on these ‘trading cards’ used at career/networking events. The goal was to illustrate the many career-oriented resources the NAA offered concisely. This particular project honed my ability to advocate for the user, and I think the final result orients itself toward the needs/pain points of the individual first and foremost. The cards were so successful in their first year the team went on to expand them to other programs.

Events

My role also included art direction and marketing for various events. In February 2020, the San Francisco office held an event with alumna Eva Jefferson Paterson. I chose photography from the university archives department as the event’s creative. The event included posters, emails, and event signage. Photos from the event were taken by a professional photographer and then posted on our social media.

Illustration & Misc.

I also had the pleasure to flex my illustration skills on a variety of projects. My design abilities were stretched when I was asked to take lead on the above inflatable mascot, Willie the Wildcat. It’s one of the most unconventional projects I’ve worked on, but doing so taught me that my design knowledge can go beyond the 2D world.