Brandon Luís Ramos | Collateral | Designing for Post-Secondary School

I do not represent any BIR and all materials are to be viewed in the context as my role as designer only. Images and video used in this online portfolio are solely used as a visual resume, showing proof of experience and ability. I do not profit from my website, nor do I compete with BIR or other businesses. The portfolio website is used to report news and works of art created by myself solely. This is a common practice amongst graphic designers. The materials posted on my site are all public and have been distributed widely as marketing materials, and any mention of BIR or other businesses are factual and in no way defamatory or derogatory. All postings illustrate process of design and do not divulge any “trade secrets” or other confidential information pertaining to BIR or other businesses.

I spent a bit over a year working with a post secondary college in Chicago called BIR Training Center. This school’s main program of study was English as a second language, or ESL, along with a series of vocational programs including medical assisting and computerized manufacturing (CNC). My time at the school was to maintain existing standards as well as create new collateral marketing materials. Some of the projects I created for the school are discussed below:

Video for distribution to Agencies and YouTube:

English Language Program on DVD

The school needed a video to send to student agencies abroad to show prospective students the school, Chicago, and student testimonials. We unfortunately only had a shoestring budget less than $500 which only covered video equipment rentals for 3 days. We shot over 2 hours of student interviews, classes in session, and Chicago scenes. Editing the film was a battle in itself, only being armed with my trusty aging MacBook Pro, I downloaded the video and edited it in iMovie. Background noise, cheap microphones, and low speaking students were challenges to overcome but for the most part successful. The voice over I recorded using Garage Band with friend Tessa Auza.

Agency Booklet:

English Program Booklet

Along with a video, the school had been receiving requests from international study abroad agencies for detailed information about the school and its English program. The need arose to create a collateral piece that was larger than our usual brochure, but still small enough to hand out and ship abroad. The school was going to a trade show for schools in Bangkok, Thailand in the fall and so it was decided to create a piece that could be used for the show and after. We created two booklets, one in English and the other in Thai. My assistant was a Thai student and was able to provide for us the translation. The booklet gives a basic run down of the school, the English Program, the city of Chicago, and the process of applying for a Visa to the USA.

Trade Show Booth Design:

Trade Show Booth in Bangkok Thailand

The school exhibited in 2009 at TIEE – Thailand International Education Exhibition in Bangkok, Thailand. At this Expo, we distributed the booklet to prospective Thai students looking to study in the US. After holding a focus group in Chicago, we found that Thai students were most interested in studying English at schools in the USA. Location was not as important as being in the US, big cities of course help. So rather than focusing on Chicago directly, we found that Thai students would be attracted to the US first, and specifics later. This design was made in Illustrator and Photoshop and printed in Thailand. I was not able to travel to the event, but was lucky to have some photos taken of the event and booth given to me. The bright colors and distinct shape of the North American continent, as well as a nice corner location made out booth easy to see and stand out well to traffic flow.

Basic Collateral:

Learning Center Flier

A flier for tutoring sessions and another flier for a NCLEX preparation class best exemplify a few examples of the collateral I created for the school. For the tutoring flier I was asked to take some photos, create a flier, and design corresponding punch cards for their extended tutoring sessions. The flier explains the benefits of this plus service and the option for the services. The punch cards are normal business card sized for ease of portability for students, and much be presented for each additional session. The design had to center around the cards which were to be punched by a standard single hole punch, 13 holes to be punched. There was no color scheme yet established for this tutoring service, so a light shade of green and yellow were used as a bright and distinctive palate. Using a standard 80# card-stock the cards were durable and easy to transport.

NCLEX Nursing Exam Flier

The NCLEX flier was a design I was limited by having to using predetermined colors and some design standards, but was able to get creative with use of charts, imagery, and information presented. This is the reverse side of a two page flier, highlighting the schedule and information covered int eh class. This was a three class program, each level building on the previous classes. From this I used a subtle changing tint gradient effect using the medical program’s purple. Each class got slightly darker color treatment as the program progresses, giving them more importance, distinction from each other, and cohesion with the umbrella medical assisting program. It was addressed the information was overwhelming, and that other graphics would need to be introduced, however all the copy and program information had to be displayed. I was able to compromise with a slide show of sorts at the foot of the document of medical professionals in action. These professionals could be either nurses or medical assistants and gave the essence of care in the medical profession to the document instead of being a sterile list of subjects. These fliers are distributed at the campuses to prospective and current students.

TOEFL Test Prep Brochure - Outside

The school offered test preparation for the TOEFL and IELTS exams, which are standardized tests used to measure the level of English fluency. Many universities and jobs require a high TOEFL or IELTS score to be accepted or hired. Working directly with the English Program Director, and International Students Director, I developed a brochure that both gave relevant information about the program, and was visually appealing to be used as a marketing piece. Having the limitations of staying within a preset color pallet and precedence of prior brochure designs, the brochure was both a challenge and rewarding experience. For each section of the program, I developed icons to be used to designate listening, speaking, conversation, etc. Using Adobe Illustrator, each logo stood as a universal icon, so that all levels of fluency would be able to understand what the program offered. The brochure also gave me the opportunity to take photos of students in practice sessions with a school tutor.

English Language Program Brochure Inside

The school updated its English Language Program and needed its brochure for the program updated as well. Having the limitations of staying within a preset color pallet and precedence of prior brochure designs and standards, the brochure was an exercise in creative arrangement. The information that needed to be expressed was illustrated with graphics and charts; and though text heavy, was able to clearly demonstrate the program and its process. The three part program has many levels that is confusing to students as well as those who even worked at the institution, so to draw out graphics that explained the program required a flow-chart style spread that brought together seminars, tutoring, and core classes into a comprehensive and cohesive singular piece. As this is an English as a second language program, many students do not understand the complexity without these illustrations.

Advertising:

Vocational Newspaper Ad

Advertising in several different newspapers and publications, the school needed new ads developed for its vocational programs: Medical Assisting, Health Information Technology, and Computerized Manufacturing. Sticking to established program colors, and other design constraints, I was able to develop new and fresh ads to attract new students from several different demographics, languages, and backgrounds. Each ad could be printed in either color or black and white editions, as well as being scalable to different publication size standards. Most images also had to be severely edited in photoshop as we did not have the appropriate photo compositions available. Backgrounds were added to give significance to the program of study, have the subject stand out, or add more branding as in the case of the medical assistant’s scrubs having a logo introduced.

Open House Invites - English, Korean, Thai

Invites and postcard were designed to be sent and distributed to specific language communities around Chicago for the school’s English Language programs open house. Each card portrayed student pictures of the ethnicity we were marketing to. Our target audiences for this open house were mostly the Asian communities, and those who were all ready studying at other schools. A guerrilla campaign of postcards at cafes or other places where prospective students gathered, the bright colors and welcoming smiles of the “students” featured on the postcards helps draw attention, and the size allows for easy pick up. The cards were also designed in several different languages to make the experience for the readers more genuine and know that native speakers of their language are available at the school.

Ukrainian Medical Poster

The school hosted regular open houses, this one in particular for people of Ukrainian, Polish, and Russian backgrounds to study in our medical programs. Limited to a stock photo budget, finding a model in medical dress that was also appropriate to the ethnic groups the school was advertising too posed a unique challenge. Once finding the appropriate model, text had to be translated and modified for each language. I consulted with native speakers for each language for how text would be appropriately read and understood. Posters were designed to hang in several community centers and other visible and high traffic areas in each respective language.