kor group recently created multiple admission acceptance kits for some of our higher education clients: Assumption College, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Merrimack College, and Wheelock College. We understand that admission marketing is not just about getting prospective students to apply, but to yield. The goal of these kits was to excite the accepted student, and to immediately make him or her feel welcomed into the school’s community. Beyond the beautiful printed kits we included information for accepted students to connect with their future graduating class on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Assumption College Accept Kit folder

Assumption College Accept Brochure

MCPHS Accept Kit Folder

MCPHS Accept Kit Folder

MCPHS Accept Kit Folder (Post-It Notes)

Merrimack College Accept Checklist

Merrimack College Accept Checklist

Wheelock College Accept Kit Folder

Wheelock College Merit Scholarship Award

Tis the season to give, so this year kor group designed, printed, and donated a set of three thank-you cards, inserts, and bookmarks (ready for coloring-in) for a wonderful organization called Cradles to Crayons www.cradlestocrayons.org who provides donated essential items such as clothing, books and school supplies for children in need. We were happy to be able to create something for them that will in turn put a smile on their donors faces!

kor group exhibited in November at the American Marketing Association Symposium for Marketing of Higher Education. Held in Boston, the event was attended by more than 775 higher education marketing professionals from around the world. kor is known for building strong college and university brands through strategy, design and new media. This flash movie highlights some work that was on display at the conference.

With clients in a number of industries, kor group is often looking at ways of communicating to different audiences within the same campaign. We consider factors such as social background, economic status, gender, etc. When working for clients within the financial sphere, the predominant way of dividing an audience is by economic factors. This makes sense, right? We’re promoting financial services and thus we should adjust our message based on income. While this is a viable and successful method it is certainly not the only way to reach an investor. Generational lifestyles and values are as influential on purchasing and investment decisions as other demographic factors such as income, education, and gender.

Working with a major global benefit plan provider, kor group recently created a set of materials that employed this generational approach to communication. Dividing the intended audience into three distinct generational groups – Millennial, Generation X and Baby Boomer – our research identified the key factors motivating a particular group in terms of their retirement investing behaviors. By speaking to their key priorities, we were able to develop communications that spoke more directly and powerfully than traditional methods. In addition to the generational-targeted messages, the color palette was shifted between the materials to appeal to each age group. While customized to each generation, the palettes maintain the sense of a single campaign by utilizing shared colors and tonal shifts.

In a time of economic uncertainty, these materials meet investors where they are in their investment life cycle; providing support, confidence and a sense of partnership with their plan provider.

As designers, communicating ideas visually is something that we do everyday. Logos, brochures, websites, and videos are all designed to quickly convey an idea. Occasionally we need to get very detailed in a compact space. That’s when we get to explore the world of information design. Aside from their interesting looks, infographics can be a great way of simplifying complex concepts and allowing a reader to quickly see your point while displaying a great amount of detail. Below are a few recent examples of information design in our work:

Above is the beginning of a timeline that will run through an upcoming brochure celebrating the 40th anniversary of Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates. Here the passage of time was very important in understanding the history of the organization.

In Bucknell University’s Academics in Action we showcased students and faculty and their impact on world. With this infographic we aimed to reveal how social responsibility is pervasive throughout the Bucknell Community. Click here for a larger version of this graphic.

In Bucknell’s Life in Full Motion the goal was to reveal how vibrant life is outside of the classroom while showing how closely knit the community is on campus. We accomplished this by highlighting several students’ “paths” on campus.Click here for a larger version of this graphic.

At kor group, we recently encountered the printing and proofing challenges of gradients, and thought we could share the information we gained. It all began with the Beth Israel Deaconess–Needham Annual Report, which kor group designed again this year.

The design incorporates several gradients that shift in color subtly over a long distance. When we received printer’s proofs, the gradients showed banding. Although the printer thought the banding would be less evident once printed offset, we weren’t willing to take chances on the print quality and chose to make adjustments to the gradients in the file.

There is no mathematical formula for the best gradient percentages over a measured space, because each color reacts differently. However, the banding becomes an issue when there is minimal change over a long distance, so by shortening the area of gradation, or starting with a darker tone, we were able to adjust the file for smoother printing.

Another option, which our printer recommended, was creating the gradients in Photoshop and adding 1-2 points of noise.

Having a good quality printer, who is willing to troubleshoot and run press tests for you, is key to the success of the printed piece, and luckily, that was our experience with Kirkwood Printing in Wilmington, MA.

This past weekend (October 2-4) I attended a better world by design conference in Providence, RI organized by RISD and Brown University. An inspiring group of attendees from students to professionals, across disciplines, from researchers, business leaders, designers, artists, economists, architects, engineers, entrepreneurs, and educators came together with a common goal of making this world a better place and to develop human centered designs. Speakers, panels, workshops and events ranged from sustainability to œpedal to the people, social entrepreneurship, emerging markets, communication for activism, information design, urban electric vehicles, appropriate technology and architecture in the developing world. I observed, learned and participated in a multiplicity of perspectives on a wide range of global challenges and solutions that worked.

From my schizophrenic notes!

Jan Chipcase — Nokia Research Center, user experience research
His visuals and personal stories of travel captured everyone. His research takes him to different cultures, countries off the map and villages in-between grids. It was fascinating to see how necessity drives innovation.

Emile Pilloton — Project H Design, industrial designer
Inspires and believes in life-improving humanitarian products. Her innovative solutions of a handmade bag turning into a hammock for the homeless women and counting tyre games for rural Africa and North Carolina truly carved the path for creative solutions.

The Integration of Design and Business — panel discussion
A very lively panel of Debbie Millman, Peter Lawrence, Bill Faulkes on design strategy, human behaviors, business of design, value and design as a business resource.

Culture Factor or Why the best laid plans go awry — Bianca Dahl, anthropologist, brown university
An enlightening workshop through several case studies on why the solutions with best research, taking the needs of people in mind, with regular follow-ups in the villages of India and Africa went wrong. We tried to answer, why after spending billions of dollars in aid with no result, how we interpret local culture and how to use these techniques to design for a better world.

Teddy Cruz — architect, san deigo
His incredible research and knowledge of San Diego and Tijuana culture clash at the border, literally, was mind-numbing. San Diego is the largest gated community. The exchange — discarded houses, materials from San Diego installed in Tijuana while migration from Tijuana to San Diego provides interesting challenges and opportunities.

Kiggie Hvid — Index
Based in Denmark, Index advocates, and offers the worlds largest financial assistance to design projects that improve life. Check out kiva.org where individuals can microfinance an entrepreneur to lift themselves out of poverty anywhere on this planet.

Jaime Lerner — architect and urban planner, brazil
He transformed his congested, polluted city to an efficient unclogged city with great mass-transportation. A strong advocate for public transportation gave his gyan on how an individual can make a difference:

1. separate garbage

2. use public transportation

3. work close to home / live close to work

4. multiuse facilities

my excerpt:
Consume less, keep it simple, don’t compromise, impactful-meaningful work, go beyond going green, follow my heart, immerse in different cultures, TRAVEL, and DESIGN LIKE I GIVE A DAMN.

You?

For those of you who do not know what NACAC is:
National Association for College Admission Counseling

Mostly VP’s of Enrollment, Admission Directors, and College counselors attend the almost week long conference to download trends in higher education, connect with colleagues and be wined and dined by their brand advisors!

I look forward to this conference every year to see what our competitors are up to and to engage in conversations with potential institutions who need our help. This year I was joined by kor group Principal Anne Callahan and Brand Strategist Rob Levinson (shown in kor booth pic below). We had some great conversations with current and prospective clients, had a wonderful dinner with Assumption College and Merrimack College, enjoyed a few cocktails (ugh) and attended a wonderful reception sponsored by the Catholic Colleges at the Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards.

One of my favorite outcomes of NACAC 2008 was meeting and now working with Merrimack College. At NACAC 2009, Merrimack showcased the new branding and communications we have been working so hard on. It looks great and so does Jorge (shown pic below)!

Here’s to NACAC St. Louis 2010!

Honoring our own
We  are proud to be celebrating the ten year anniversary of James Grady, Associate, with kor group—and counting on at least ten more. We gathered at 28 degrees for a night of honor, celebration, and thanks to the best thing that ever happened to kor group, James Grady, who demonstrates this time and again through his creativity, dedication, and collaboration. Oh yes, and we also had some fun!

Man of the evening
James Grady, T.B.T.T.E.H.T.K.G.

The Why
We read lists of projects, events, and  many good times we’ve had over the past 10 years. You had us at “The Why”, which was his original cover letter that was read aloud.

Odes and Hors d’oeuvres
Between drinks and dinner there were many great stories told and retold. Good times!

Catherine

Dave

Pink Liz with grapefruit cosmo

James’ evil twin brother with pickle moustache

Concerned Dan with Jette

Rusha

Justin and Matt

Light and Shadow-Dancing
Ever the designers, we were inspired to create abstract visual imagery against the drapes while James performed a dance montage/homage to Madonna, Britney and Lady Gaga.

Nobody puts James in the corner!

A (kor) Group Effort
The whole gang was in attendance for the commemoration; A big thanks to the partners for a great party!

The whole gang

Jim and James, a.k.a. Team JG, keeping it real.

James with Partners, MB, Anne, and Karen

After working with Assumption College for the past two years on their brand positioning and interim collateral, we are happy to announce that we are rolling out Assumption’s “brand book”. This piece outlines the key messages developed from the brand positioning as well as giving a full sense of the academic and campus life at Assumption. It is meant to present the essence of Assumption College. Throughout the piece there are call outs that link the reader to academic departments and stories from students, faculty, and alumni that can be found on their web site: assumption.edu. We created and launched their web site in the Spring of 2009. For this piece, kor group has been working with photographer Len Rubenstein to develop their photo library as well as continuing to use existing images from Assumption’s photo archive. Our writing partner, Libretto, has been working with us to develop the brand strategy as well as the content for this piece. The brand book was printed at Vermillion in Nashua NH. We were very pleased, as usual, with the quality and service we received. The paper that was used was 80lb Rolland Enviro100 cover and text. This is a 100% PCW (post consumer waste) stock, and we were more than impressed with it’s performance. The cover was off-line printed with a pearl foil stamp by Matheson-Higgins. This gave the piece a very unique effect and tactile quality. We are in the process of working on many other projects that deliver on the Assumption College brand positioning. Stay tuned…