LEAD

Task: Rebranding and Construction of LEAD

Client: The University of West Alabama, Institutional Advancement

Process: Below is the core structure, foundation, sketches, logo, rebranding strategy, marketing, and promotional mock ups.

Project

LEAD stands for Livingston Early Alumni Development and it is a student run club/ organization that enhances our students networking, leadership and job oriented skills by interacting with the University of West Alabama (UWA) alumni and future employers.

Background

LEAD was originally a scholarship organization where only certain members could gain access do to specific scholarships. They would rarely meet and had 1-2 events a year with UWA alumni.

Club Reconstruction

Challenge

The challenge of reconstructing LEAD was turning it in to something that would create a need to be in. I had to come up with a way to make our students feel like they were getting their moneys worth.

Solution

I reconstructed the club based on the one thing college students want… a JOB. The newly constructed LEAD would be for Juniors and Seniors who are at the end of the collegiate career and looking for a career after graduation. So I promoted the ability to find you a job but how? LEAD would give you networking opportunities, job oriented skills and opportunities for scholarships. Let me break it down for you.

• Networking Opportunities: Our goal is for you to expand your connections by getting in contact with alumni from UWA as well as businesses around our area. From this our slogan was formed. “It’s not only what you know, it’s who you know”. Majority of jobs no a days are gained through connections. LEAD sets up opportunities for you to connect with these individuals by having socials with alumni or communicating with businesses in order to help with LEAD’s job search. Essentially LEAD would become it’s own recruitment agency where student are held to specific standards thus creating a job pool so businesses know the quality of student they are hiring. Along with networking with people out side of the school these members will also connect with their members creating life long connection.

• Job Oriented Skills: LEAD gives its members opportunities to lead through executive positions that involves management, organization, planning, and communication. Executive positions include President, Vice president etc. as well as committee members. These members are responsible for running the club. The job includes anything from planning events or managing. Members that are not involved can still learn skills by going to seminars where guest speakers talk inform our students on what employers are looking for. This also goes back to networking because we build our connections with our speakers.

• Scholarship Opportunities: Our main focus is on Juniors and Seniors which do not have any opportunities to gain scholarships. A lot of money is waisted on incoming freshman that come for a semester and then drop out while we have individuals who have proven they are wanting to stay and graduate. If they did not receive a scholarship when they came to college the likely hood of gaining one is very low. Having opportunities for scholarships is enough incentive to join as it is. The money would come from fundraising which would be organized by members as well as alumni  donations from the connections and personal reason we have given our alumni to give instead of them just writing a check to the school.

So I have found a way to satisfy the students with a product they can purchase. Now how does the school benefit from this? The school gains 2 things, higher graduation rates and more alumni that are willing to give. Having more graduates means more Alumni that will be willing to give back since we gave to them.

Brand Mark

Challenge

Once I reconstructed the club, I needed to create a logo that would reprsent and brand the club. 

Solution

After sketching several ideas it became clear that I wanted my letters to “lead” into each to each other. I went with a simple San Serif font that would creat the block like letters that I needed to create a clean edge when the letters connected. Once I had my initialsolid logo I added the meaning of each letter underneath for better desccription of what LEAD stands for. I also created a stroked version that also showed the visual of the lines leading into each other. 

Promotional Items