From the Nominator

When we set out to create a new kind of undergraduate viewbook, we wanted it to communicate a true, authentic story of the Brandeis University experience. The story had to be told firsthand to prospective students from the very people who might one day be their future classmates. To achieve this, our team put together a two-viewbook strategy featuring the voices of 13 current students. They were interviewed, photographed, and even pulled into the design process as storytellers. It’s their voices who are in conversation with the reader, relating the key facets of the Brandeis experience. Brandeis admissions hired a content strategy team, 43,000 Feet, to work in tandem with our in-house communications team to bring this concept to life. The communications team lead the design, art direction, videography, and photography. We also hired two outside illustrators to bring individuality to the student comments and create a map of the local area. The design is meant to engage with our Gen Z prospective students. We looked at the spaces where Gen Z lives, including popular media and social media. We drew from there bright colors, fun graphics, and typographical expressions to create a "maximalist" design. In the end, we achieved a bright, visually appealing viewbook that weaves together traditional statistics and calls-to-action with student thoughts about topics important to their incoming peers.

From the Judges

A unique approach to a viewbook that incorporates both professional- and student-generated content to engage its perspective students. Additionally, we appreciated that a lot of information was conveyed, but the look was still clean and uncluttered. Good work, Brandeis!