Higher education marketing, without the agency

Work for UNC, Colorado State and the schools, centers and studies inside them, including the No. 1 public school of public health in the country. Websites a communications staff of one can keep current, the brand around them, and the print and email that carry the same message.

Book a 25-minute callSee the work
 

Adrial helped us break down our core ideas into relatable chunks and build a comprehensive marketing framework. Now, we can confidently answer our own questions on what to write.

Andy PavloAssociate Professor, Carnegie Mellon University

Three that show the range

A whole school, one initiative, and an emergency

Printed promotions laid out together: the We’re Gillings wall display, a seminar flyer, a lecture series flyer, the Healthy Impact sheet, a web banner ad and an organizational chartUNC Chapel HillA whole school, every surfaceUNC Gillings, the No. 1 public school of public health in the country and tied for No. 2 overall: the homepage a prospective student lands on, the We’re on it mark, the recruiting booklet, the email templates, and the magazine that goes to forty thousand people twice a year.Read the case study Seven printed pieces fanned across a pale surface: a Black History Month spread, the Our Identity mural sign and the rest of the Symposium print familyColorado State UniversityAn initiative that had to travelColorado State: seven cultural centers and a symposium behind one front door, with a mark, a poster and the print that carried it across campus.Read the case study Twelve circular university marks in a cluster: UNC-CH, App State, UNCC, NC A&T, WCU, ECSU, WSSU, UNCA, UNC-G, NCCU, UNC-Pembroke and Fayetteville StateThe UNC systemTwelve institutions, one deadlineThe UNC Gillings COVID-19 dashboard: 57 contributors across nine groups, and twelve UNC campuses credited on its about page, from Chapel Hill and App State to Elizabeth City, Pembroke and NC A&T. Built fast, for the public, while the thing it described was still moving.Read the case study

That last one is retired now, and it is still the one I point at when somebody asks whether I can work inside a big group on a short clock. Fifty-seven people across twelve universities had to agree on what the public was told, and it had to go out while the numbers were still changing every day.

The actual work

What it looks like on a campus

Not screenshots. The pieces people picked up, wore, walked past and took home.

A wide timeline panel in CSU green and cream, milestones dated 1936 through 2026 with archive photographs between them and an UP TO US mark at the end
Colorado State University. Fifty years of El Centro on one wall panel, built so the next anniversary can be added to the end. See the project.
We’re on it merchandise photographed together on white: a blue tee, two caps, an enamel mug and a round button, each carrying the mark
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. The We’re on it mark, off the screen and onto the things people actually keep. See the project.
The Symposium identity laid out in four panels: the wordmark with its sunburst, a green 25th anniversary seal, a Stronger together sticker, and a step and repeat pattern
Colorado State University. One mark for the Symposium, with the seal, the sticker and the step and repeat drawn from it. See the project.
Pages from the We’re Gillings, We’re on it booklet fanned across a surface: a photo grid cover, profile spreads and a page of figures
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. The booklet a prospective student is handed, carrying the same look as the homepage. See the project.
Three people talking in a conference room beside a pull-up banner reading Symposium, Living, Land, Grant, Mission
Colorado State University. The Symposium banner doing its job, which is the only test that counts. See the project.
The FrontLines email beside a Department News template, both under the UNC Gillings masthead, with a lead story and photograph in each
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Templates the communications team fills in themselves, every issue. See the project.

The work

The rest of it

Schools, research centers, a law school, a magazine and a study. Most of them started with one piece and came back for the next.

The UNC School of Law siteUNC School of LawEvery elected prosecutor in the country, searchable by zipSee the projectThe UNC Water Institute siteUNC Water InstituteEvery project, paper and person, behind one filterSee the projectThe Carolina Public Health magazine siteCarolina Public Health magazineA print magazine that reads just as well on a phoneSee the projectThe UNC Center for Thriving Communities siteUNC Center for Thriving Communities114 local governments, one way to make the caseSee the projectThe Sheps DATA+ siteSheps DATA+Fifty years of rigor, on a site that shows itSee the projectThe Consortium for Cancer Implementation Science siteConsortium for Cancer Implementation ScienceFifty-three research tools, found in one searchSee the projectThe UNC Gillings, ecosystem assessment siteUNC Gillings, ecosystem assessmentSixty-eight questions that map a whole systemSee the projectThe Cancer Control PopSim siteCancer Control PopSimFive tools that turn a simulation into a decisionSee the projectThe FoRtitude Study siteFoRtitude StudyAn eight-lesson program for life after cancer treatmentSee the project

The usual client

The comms team that has everything, except a designer

That is who I usually work for. Not the central marketing office with its own designers, but the school, the institute or the study that has a budget, a deadline from a funder, and a comms team carrying the website on top of everything else they do. What they need is a site they can update on a Tuesday afternoon without filing a ticket, and a quote their purchasing office will process without three rounds of questions. That is most of the work on this page.

Questions

What universities ask before they hire me

Do you work with university procurement?
Yes. I've been through it at UNC and Colorado State, so I know what a sole-source justification needs and what a W-9 and a COI form are for. The quote I send is one your purchasing office can process. You should not have to rewrite it for them.
Our funding is a grant. Does that change anything?
It changes the timing more than the work. Grant money usually has a spend-by date and a scope that was written months ago, so I price in phases that can start and stop on those dates, and I write the scope to match the language already in the award. Several of these projects were paid for exactly that way.
Can our team edit the site after you hand it over?
That is the point of how I build. Every site here runs on a CMS the program's own staff update, because a center with one communications person cannot wait on a vendor to change a seminar date. The Water Institute runs 316 pages that way.
Does it have to be accessible?
For a public university, yes, and it is worth doing properly rather than bolting on an overlay widget. I build to WCAG 2.2 AA: real headings, keyboard order that makes sense, contrast that passes, and alt text written by somebody who saw the picture.
Most higher education marketing firms are agencies. You are one person.
That is the trade. An agency gives you a team and an account manager between you and the person doing the work. You get me on the call and me doing the drawing, which is faster and cheaper, and it means I can only run a few of these at a time. If you need forty landing pages by Friday, hire an agency.
Can you do just the one thing we need?
Yes. Plenty of this work was a single piece: a magazine, a logo, one dashboard. The six disciplines exist so you can take one and come back for another, not so you have to buy the set.

The disciplines

What this usually involves

Website design and buildThe site, and a CMS your own staff run.Read more Print and collateralAnnual reports, magazines, program books and posters.Read more Logo and brandingA mark for a center or an initiative that has to travel.Read more Getting the work foundResearch nobody can find did not get published. Search, and the AI answers people ask now.Read more

Tell me what the deadline is

Twenty-five minutes. Bring the thing you have to ship, who has to approve it and when the funder expects it, and I'll tell you whether I can do it in that window. If the answer is no, you'll hear it on the call instead of three weeks into a proposal.

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