Stanford Magazine aims to engage its newest alumni by providing practical guidance on career development and life skills. Research indicates that young alumni value actionable advice, prompting us to enhance our content with engaging visual stories. To achieve this, we collaborated with an in-house illustrator to create a series of illustrations using various techniques, including acrylic gel prints and digital collage. These vibrant visuals complement articles on themes such as handling feedback and exploring careers in civil and electrical engineering. The results have been impressive: three of these illustrated pieces rank among the top 40 most-read stories in the past two years, with an average view count 30% higher than the number of unique users. This strong return rate shows that alumni are not only reading these stories but revisiting them for the valuable insights they provide. Through this initiative, Stanford Magazine effectively supports young alumni by leveraging creative resources to produce compelling, impactful content that resonates with our audience.
From the Judges
Love the mix of soft watercolor with sharp object lines. Gives it a clean arts and crafts look. Well done—with no budget allocated. Each piece is a work of art and connects very well with one another and the overall theme. The team also details how well each story performed based on data analysis. Overall, a strong concept and beautiful and timely execution.
