Aston Careers + Placements service offers students careers advice and placement opportunities to help them best prepare for life after university. Compared with other services, Aston has a unique dual focus on both careers advice and placements support.

Following award-winning branding projects with the universities of Birmingham and Warwick, IE was commissioned by Aston to create a compelling, unique and multi-channelled visual identity, to drive student engagement and brand recognition.

Aston’s service had launched a number of previous campaigns, however these campaigns lacked consistency, and students were failing to recognise the service’s identity. They wanted to introduce a highly engaging, consistent visual identity to engage students interested in placements and careers.

Other factors for IE to consider included creating a visually striking brand identity which conformed to the overarching University’s brand guidelines. IE’s design team were not allowed to introduce new fonts, colours or typography.

With this in mind, IE crafted an arresting suite of visuals using hand drawn sketches and arresting statements that connect with the images – to challenge students and increase engagement.

Despite not being able to introduce new colours, fonts or logos, IE introduced a ‘+’ between the words Careers and Placements — giving the service a recognisable namestyle which can be consistently seen across their collateral. As an intuitive solution to further differentiate the identity, IE utilised hand written messages and character illustrations.

Though only recently launched, consistency across the campaign is improved, and the new service has received great feedback from staff. Aston’s brand was launched to great acclaim with the design of a wall graphic, receiving fantastic feedback.

• The new identity will be rolled out across campus through a range of assets including posters, leaflets, hoodies, t-shirts and will also be incorporated into the University’s website. Find out about the impact of our work here.

Could IE Design help bring consistency and fresh ideas to your university marketing? Contact us now to find out.