On November 7th and 8th, 2014, Worcester Polytechnic Institute Inaugurated its 16th President, Laurie A. Leshin. The Design Team of WPI's Marketing and Communications were tasked with creating a look and feel for the event, including branding, environmental design, and a 'look' that would follow Ms. Leshin throughout her presidency. The five of us gathered, locked ourselves in a room, threw every idea we had out, and mixed the best from everything to come up with the look.
President Leshin has a long, storied background at NASA; she's a member of the Mars Curiosity Rover team, the deputy center director for science and technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and the deputy associate administrator, NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington D.C. We wanted to reference her love of space in our designs, and that was our true starting point. Her father, amazingly enough, is a space photographer, so we were able to use some of his photography in the collateral.
Overall concept by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Design Team (Melissa Arndt, AnnMarie Nichols Burtt, Britt Hafford, Sami Lipkin, and Dianne Vanacore)
Website by AnnMarie Nichols Burtt
Wordmark by Sami Lipkin
Collateral by Melissa Arndt and Britt Hafford
Photos by Matthew J Burgos, Tony Rinaldo, and Britt Hafford
President Leshin has a long, storied background at NASA; she's a member of the Mars Curiosity Rover team, the deputy center director for science and technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and the deputy associate administrator, NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington D.C. We wanted to reference her love of space in our designs, and that was our true starting point. Her father, amazingly enough, is a space photographer, so we were able to use some of his photography in the collateral.
Overall concept by the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Design Team (Melissa Arndt, AnnMarie Nichols Burtt, Britt Hafford, Sami Lipkin, and Dianne Vanacore)
Website by AnnMarie Nichols Burtt
Wordmark by Sami Lipkin
Collateral by Melissa Arndt and Britt Hafford
Photos by Matthew J Burgos, Tony Rinaldo, and Britt Hafford
Our main look featured the two historic towers visible on the Worcester Polytechnic Institute campus (Boynton Hall and Salisbury Labs) as a nod to the past; the inauguration also happened to correlate with the start of WPI's 150th Anniversary year. The planet Mars in the upper corner references Laurie Leshin's love of the red planet. The silhouette of Worcester, Massachusetts borders the bottom. In many collateral pieces, the silhouette, as well as some of the stars in the sky, was finished with a clear varnish that only appears in the light.
Formal Invitation
Concept by the the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Design Team (Melissa Arndt, AnnMarie Nichols Burtt, Britt Hafford, Sami Lipkin, and Dianne Vanacore)
Concept by the the Worcester Polytechnic Institute Design Team (Melissa Arndt, AnnMarie Nichols Burtt, Britt Hafford, Sami Lipkin, and Dianne Vanacore)
Created by Melissa Arndt
Formal invitation sent to possible delegates, other university presidents, family and friends of President Leshin, and other VIPs. The invitation featured a clear varnish silhouette of Worcester along the bottom border of the entire invitation, inside and outside. The inside featured two pockets in the shape of the Earth. The pockets held specialized cards with additonal details; not all recipients were invited to all events, so we needed a way to control who had what information.
Formal invitation sent to possible delegates, other university presidents, family and friends of President Leshin, and other VIPs. The invitation featured a clear varnish silhouette of Worcester along the bottom border of the entire invitation, inside and outside. The inside featured two pockets in the shape of the Earth. The pockets held specialized cards with additonal details; not all recipients were invited to all events, so we needed a way to control who had what information.
Lead-up to the Event
In an effort to get students, staff, and faculty involved, there were many events on campus leading up to the event itself. There were t-shirt giveaways, trick-or-treating (involving all space-themed candies; of course!), and social media events. One in particular, the countdown, took place starting 10 days away from the Inauguration date. As each day ticked away, more of the moon would become visible; another space nod to our rocket scientist president. This was also posted on the WPI homepage, as well as the Inauguration website, and worked in the same manner.
In an effort to get students, staff, and faculty involved, there were many events on campus leading up to the event itself. There were t-shirt giveaways, trick-or-treating (involving all space-themed candies; of course!), and social media events. One in particular, the countdown, took place starting 10 days away from the Inauguration date. As each day ticked away, more of the moon would become visible; another space nod to our rocket scientist president. This was also posted on the WPI homepage, as well as the Inauguration website, and worked in the same manner.
Environment
Transforming the campus into an intergalactic event was a huge part of the branding project. The first two images are concepts for environmental design, inside and outside of the event. The third image shows the actual Intergalactic Ball, held after the inauguration ceremony. This also eventually included street banners around campus, pull-up banners to backdrop events, signage, staff badges, gift tags, and photo frames.
Banner Photography by Matthew J Burgos
Transforming the campus into an intergalactic event was a huge part of the branding project. The first two images are concepts for environmental design, inside and outside of the event. The third image shows the actual Intergalactic Ball, held after the inauguration ceremony. This also eventually included street banners around campus, pull-up banners to backdrop events, signage, staff badges, gift tags, and photo frames.
Banner Photography by Matthew J Burgos
