University of Michigan-Flint
Recruitment strategy, creative direction, concept & design

Reaching prospective students through print meant competing with something that already had much of their attention: their phones. I developed the concept of turning the University of Michigan-Flint undergraduate recruitment piece into a smartphone-inspired experience, using familiar elements such as text conversations and social media to tell the story of college life through an actual student.

I first met Nate during a general campus photo shoot. As I talked with him and learned more about his experience at UM-Flint, I realized he had a story worth sharing with prospective students. I helped select him for the campaign and developed “UM-Flint According to Nate” around his experience. Rather than telling students what life at UM-Flint was like from the university’s perspective, the piece let them experience it through the voice of someone who was already living it.

The idea extended beyond the printed piece. Nate also participated in campus visits during the recruitment cycle, giving prospective students the opportunity to meet the person they had gotten to know through the campaign and creating a connection between the recruitment materials and their actual campus experience.