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WTCS - Guidebook Cover

College Guidebook 2008-2009

The Wisconsin Technical Colleges Guidebook was one of my favorite projects I created with Interact Communications. This is the guidebook that goes out to students and potential student around Wisconsin helping them make informed choices in choosing a school to attend.

The design itself was everything I could hope for artistically, it offered so many opportunities for to so some real creativity. I started off by creating four covers each with a different level of design complexity depending on the age level WTCS was intending to attract.

The WTCS staff went with a mid-level design that was graphically bright enough to attract a younger eye while remaining simple enough not to disinterest the older folks. I like the bright colors that were used; the green in my opinion was the element that sold the piece. I picked out a main figure with an eye ring; tattoos and piercings are a common personal choice with the current demographic of students.

The WTCS Guidebook was designed after a graphic novel so there were heavy elements with sharp edges to catch the eye. Round circles and jagged call out boxes were used to highlight comments and students, this lead to a striking look that was exiting and pleasing to the eye. Something to note was the heavy photographic manipulation of the picture through. Colors of the students clothing were changed to match the other pictures adding to the overall uniformity. Logos were removed from the shirts and there was an incredible amount of color correcting to ensure that every photo matched on the page and its adjacent page.

Concept one was one of the styles not chosen, but worth showing as a design style. Concept one was the complex design of the four aimed at the younger Gen Y crowd. There were a lot of design elements and cutout people to get a potential students attention.

Concept two was one of my favorites featuring a hand drawn feel, which added to the graphic novel look. Concept two was a mixture of the student elements of the chosen design and the background complexity of concept one.

Concept three was simpler design, which dealt with a strait forward color, black encasing shapes, and large pictures of students. The simpler inner page design left the most room for content and the faded pictures off to the side added a touch of elegance to the theme.

Working with multiple clients at once can be a challenge, but everything was handled in a professional and efficient manner, allowing us to get the project completed ahead of time. I really enjoyed this project and everything that went into it. Forty pages of design really allowed me to create a work of art.