$1.1 Billion! / Oregon State University

What Inspires Us

The Dawn Wall

by Beth

For several weeks this January, I was a little obsessed with Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgenson's attempt to free climb El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. I am fascinated with these feats in which my first question always seems to be "Why would anyone do that?" Tommy Caldwell had a pretty eloquent answer to that question, "For me the Dawn Wall is the perfect venue for some of the most important values I want to show [my son] Fitz," Caldwell wrote on Instagram alongside a picture of him hugging his son. "Optimism, perseverance, dedication and the importance of dreaming big." Jorgenson echoed these sentiments, adding "I wanted to see what I was capable of, and this was the biggest canvas and the most audacious project I could join and see to the finish." 

Because both of the climbers were active on social media, tweeting and posting on instagram daily, their efforts found a pretty strong following from other climbers (both the real and the armchair type.) Then John Branch of the New York Times wrote an article that captured people's attention and soon the mainstream media was reporting progress on the nightly news. Here's an interview he did about covering the adventure. 

You might still ask, "Why?" or you could just ask #WhatsYourDawnWall

To get a sense of what they faced, here's video of Caldwell on the toughest pitch of the ascent:

First Ever Kelsh Wilson Family Photo Day for Clients!!

What a great day we had last Saturday greeting clients and their families for portrait sessions by our very own Kevin Monko. It was great to meet spouses and children, to see clients in a relaxed mode, and to watch the antics of all of the cute kids in front of the camera. In true form, Kevin got great images of everyone and we know that there are holiday cards already in the works. Here are some of the fun photos we took of Kevin doing his thing, along with his great results! And some snapshots of the details from the day. This will be an annual event for us, so be on the lookout next fall for a save the date and invitation...we'd love to see you there.

Rowan University Admissions Publications

For 20 years, Kelsh Wilson has been Rowan University’s partner in admissions communications. The messages and images presented have evolved as the institution has grown steadily in selectivity. This latest multi-publication suite has pieces directed at specific audiences and features original Kelsh Wilson photography throughout. Rowan University’s growing success in admissions has been, in part, through energetic and accessible materials that tell the university’s story of academic substance. 

Click here to see the whole viewbook

Hot off the Presses

It's sometimes hard to imagine all that goes into a printed publication. From research to concept to content to photography to final design, often it's just a handful of people touching the piece. Then it heads off to the printer for the final step in the process. As Fred often says, it takes hard work and attention to detail to achieve beautiful results in a printed publication. We just delivered a number of printed pieces for the start of the new school year for a few of our educational clients.

Here are some photos our designers took while on press assuring that our clients get the very best results possible. From proofing to the final check on press, careful concentration and precision allow us to achieve those results. 

Take a look below at some of our work on press for Moorestown Friends School, Rowan University, and then check out our latest work for Cabrini College—hot off the presses.

making sure we have the color correct for Moorestown Friends School

lovely Lia with Rowan's admissions publications

Cabrini College Admissions Materials

Kelsh Wilson Design recently refreshed the admissions marketing materials for Cabrini College. We updated text and replaced many of the photos in the pieces, keeping them current. During a full redesign two years ago, we felt that their core messages were still very valid, so we refreshed the content and redesigned the pieces, updating the look and feel. Those materials included an admissions viewbook, a travel piece, a campus map and information for visitors, and an outcomes piece featuring alumni success stories. This year we added a transfer brochure and we’re creating a new search piece. This is a “refresh” of the second full set of materials we have designed for Cabrini. 

Viewbook

Travel Brochure

Outcomes Brochure

Living and Learning Communities Brochure

Transfer Brochure

Visit Map

New Clients / New Work

It's been busy here this week with project kick-offs, client meetings, and supervising printing. We're happy to be welcoming new clients and working on some new projects for long-time clients. It should be a busy fall!

Welcome to New Clients

We welcome D'Youville College in Buffalo, NY. And we're happy to be working with The Wharton Fund at Penn. We're also excited to partner with another client at George Mason University–the Office Research and Economic Development.

New Work for Former Clients

We are thrilled to be working again with Kochman, Reidt, and Haigh, Boston-based cabinet makers on a new website and with Holy Ghost Prep on some new admissions pieces. 

On the Presses

Finally, we're wrapping up the printing of new admissions pieces for Cabrini College, Carolina Friends School, The Hill School, Rowan University and fundraising pieces for Bryn Mawr College.  We'll have more to say (and show!) about those pieces in some upcoming posts.

As we said, it's been pretty busy here this week!

George Mason University Launches First Brand Profile

Kelsh Wilson Senior Writing Associate, Mike Butler spent several months this past spring working with George Mason University to refine their brand messages. The result was a fully realized brand profile--a definitive publication documenting the core messages for the University. As Mason President, Ángel Cabrera, indicates, "The point of these messages is to leverage our experience, raise our collective profile, and create a standard of consistency to our communications." Mason's brand profile consists of the brand, a message guide, and a visual identity/style guide. The profile provides guidance for individuals throughout the University community as they are telling the Mason story. The new profile launched last week and we are excited to have been a part of this important project. To read their press release and announcement, click here. 

Online Videos-Our Partnership with Allied Pixel

Online video has become vitally important for recruitment, retention, fundraising and alumni relations. But most schools struggle with two challenges:

• focusing on the right messages for their video projects—stories that will make their videos work as strategic marketing tools, and

• creating an ongoing source of high-quality video content for their website and social channels.

Together with our partner Allied Pixel we provide a package that is both compelling and strategic—getting the messages on point for your institution AND delivering great video content. Allied Pixel is an award-winning studio that, for the past 20 years, has helped colleges and universities tell their story through video, the web and now, social media. Through this partnership we help schools across our region connect with prospective students, current students and alumni through online video. We work with your in-house team to create amazing, short-form videos that inspire sharing.

We base this creative work on an understanding of your marketable strengths and key audiences. And we provide expertise to help leverage the impact of video across your digital platforms—website, Facebook, Twitter and other channels. We’ve pioneered a cost-effective program that provides a full school year’s worth of original, custom-produced video content featuring your students, faculty, alumni and campus. It’s affordable and easy.

Visit Allied Pixel to see how other schools in the area are taking advantage of the program. Then call us at 267.765.0700 x701 to learn more and see if the program is right for your school.

Right now is the perfect time to begin planning for a fall kickoff. This is an exciting, innovative program that can turbo-charge your school’s online presence. 

Penn Engineering Magazine Spring 2014

We are happy to share the most recent edition of Penn Engineering, the alumni magazine for the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. We've been working with the school for nearly a decade and each magazine offers us more opportunity for creativity as we help them to illustrate the impressive work done by Penn engineers. 

Creating Compelling Stories with Video

While we always enjoy a well-crafted paragraph or an elegantly designed publication, sometimes the best way to tell your story is through an expertly shot and edited video. Video brings voice and image to the stories that make your institution unique and allows the character of your school to emerge. For prospective students, it allows them to identify with your current students. For your donors, it enables them to witness the impact of their contributions. We love short, compelling, topic-based videos for these purposes, like the ones we developed for the College of William & Mary.

KWD Marketing Brochures

At Kelsh Wilson we are always looking for new ways to promote our work. Just as in recruiting new students, engaging new and existing clients requires the right messages and design. We think we did pretty well with our latest set of marketing materials—folded brochures featuring our work as solutions to the key issues faced by our clients. The boldly colored pieces invite interaction as they open to reveal messages and images with real impact. Modeling our own advice—these pieces are meant to start the conversation. Please visit Issuu to see them for yourself and contact us to talk further.