Project objective

Ahead of the Fall 2027 recruiting cycle, Saint Ben’s + Saint John’s needed their signature road piece, the Admission Guide, to do more than look good on a table. Recruiters needed a promotional piece that could replace a sprawling stack of print collateral, hold its own on a screen as well as in hand, and perform under the specific pressure of a college fair, where a few seconds of visual presence often have to do the work of an entire conversation. The creative brief called for materials that felt unmistakably CSB+SJU — warm, personal, and rooted in a community where every student is known — while being strategic enough to actually move prospective students from interested to applied.

Just as important, the work had to carry forward the schools’ True North theme and 2024 rebrand. That meant putting real thought into how the brand’s patterns — a set of fluid, organic, buildable components — would perform across varying academic content and both print and digital formats, without ever drifting from the standards the rebrand had just established.

What we delivered

We paired design and copy to build an Admission Guide  and supporting postcard templates that put the new identity to work rather than just on display. Because the rebrand’s patterns are designed to be fluid and not fixed, we used that flexibility as an opportunity rather than a constraint — connecting and layering the components differently across sections, so each spread feels distinct and engaging rather than templated. The result is a piece that moves like a story — giving the layout room to breathe while keeping the information recruiters rely on easy to scan.