University of Reading
The University of Reading Careers centre supports its students in achieving their potential and prepares them for the competitive employment market.
“IE’s work genuinely surprised and delighted us. Challenging, pithy tag lines and intriguing, quirky imagery combine to deliver precisely the mix of behaviour changing messages that Reading Careers needed to drive up visibility and engagement. What’s more, when we did a show and tell to our Vice Chancellor he loved it!”
Lorna Froud
Director of Careers and Employability, University of Reading
Before we landed
The Careers Centre had found it difficult to motivate its students and academics to engage with the service and needed to cut through the ‘noise’ of university messaging.
The challenge we were set
IE was appointed to clarify the service’s proposition, to develop its messaging and to create an arresting, highly distinctive visual identity – without stepping outside the university’s prescriptive brand guidelines.
IE began with a multi-stakeholder exploratory workshop followed by a qualitative listening exercise to harvest the views of students, academics, careers professionals and Students’ Union representatives. These revealed that Reading students needed a combination of gentle coaxing (delivered through witty, whimsical imagery) and a strong dose of ‘tough love’ from the Careers team (delivered through copy inspired by the language of revolution).
The difference we made
- A set of beautiful, distinctive visual assets carrying powerful messages for use across all Careers communications.
- Templated campaign collateral from posters and brochures to web banners and newsletters, and from welcome desk panels to directional signage and gazebos.
- A customised font to help UoR recreate the visual style in-house.
- Brand recognition, event attendance and social media engagement are up across the board.
