Brand Management & Marketing (Higher Education)
In 2018, the university launched a comprehensive brand refresh in partnership with an external branding agency. Within this initiative, I led the development, management, and implementation of scalable brand systems designed to unify visual identity, messaging, and communication across a large and decentralized organization.
My role extended beyond creative execution into long-term brand governance, cross-functional collaboration, and organizational adoption. I developed standardized templates, asset libraries, and brand guidelines while leading training initiatives, stakeholder collaboration, vendor oversight, and creative workflows that supported consistent brand implementation across digital, print, recruitment, and institutional marketing channels.
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Helped lead the rollout of a university-wide brand refresh designed to create a more unified identity across recruitment, athletics, academics, and campus communication. Developed systems, templates, and shared resources that allowed departments to create materials more efficiently while staying aligned with updated brand standards.
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Worked closely with university leadership and the external branding agency to help translate research and audience insights into messaging that better reflected the institution’s strengths, culture, and student experience. The updated positioning helped create more consistency across recruitment and marketing materials.
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Established core messaging themes that served as a foundation for recruitment campaigns, university storytelling, presentations, and departmental communication. These pillars helped create alignment across teams that had historically operated independently.
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Developed voice and tone guidelines that helped departments communicate in a more consistent and recognizable way across print, digital, and social platforms. The goal was to maintain professionalism while making communication feel more approachable, student-focused, and authentic.
Making a Statement
As part of the university’s broader brand refresh, I helped lead the concept development for a large-scale campus sculpture designed to create a stronger visual identity and student engagement opportunity within a high-traffic area of campus.
The goal was to create more than a landmark. The installation was envisioned as a recognizable campus gathering point, photo destination, and social-sharing backdrop that could organically extend the university brand through student interaction and user-generated content.
In 2021, I worked alongside an art professor and the university’s Director of Facilities Management to help secure funding, guide creative direction, and develop early design concepts for the installation. The final concept centered around an oversized steel “W” structure designed to reinforce school pride while creating a more modern and visually recognizable campus experience.
WIU BILLBOARDS
WIU BILLBOARDS
Brand Photography - Photography Direction
Photography played a major role in shaping how the university was visually represented across recruitment, marketing, social media, athletics, and institutional communication. I worked closely with photography and videography teams throughout the academic year to plan and direct shoots that aligned with the university’s updated brand identity and storytelling goals.
A major focus of our approach was authenticity. Rather than relying on staged or stock-style imagery, we prioritized real interactions, natural moments, campus life, and genuine student engagement. The goal was to create imagery that felt relatable, human, and reflective of the actual student experience.
I collaborated on creative direction for a wide range of campaigns and photo needs, helping guide shot selection, storytelling themes, seasonal priorities, and overall visual consistency across platforms. Every image included throughout this portfolio featuring WIU was captured by the university’s in-house photography team as part of that collaborative process.
