Many millennials practice a minimalistic lifestyle, they are largely the offspring of baby boomers who were notorious for keeping everything! As their parents age, millennials are left to manage this mountain of stuff. Consider this when designing the areas of your school. Keep the interior simple, clean and uncluttered. Focus on a bold, contrasting color scheme and simple furniture. Strip down the information in the space to the essentials.

Simple doesn’t have to be boring. Shown above are two examples of bold, contrasting color palettes used in student spaces.

2. Tell a story.

This is true for any design or marketing communication, but it’s often skipped when branding spaces. People remember stories and this is especially true with millennials who engage daily with stories on social media. When it comes to education, stories of recent graduates or examples of careers could help touring students envision their future. Be genuine, use professional photography and graphics to ensure the story is told in a captivating way.

Banners inside a college welding lab, tell a story of future careers to current and prospective students.

3. Encourage sharing.

While sharing can be a little tricky to manage, we know millennials love to participate. Consider ways to use your interior to engage students. This generation has a lot to say, and providing a platform for them to share their perspective will strengthen their connection to your brand. An integrated whiteboard could be used to pose monthly questions to your students. A digital screen could showcase selfies of current students and invite them to participate.

Conceptual design for an interactive selfie screen at Delta College.

Where to start

It’s important at the beginning of the journey to figure out the story that needs to be told and how and where it should be communicated in the space. What are the important messages to communicate to current and prospective students? How do we want them to feel? It’s a critical step in the process and when done right, it leads to much smoother sailing through the rest of the project. We call this the discovery and strategy phase.

Jon Moses
Creative Director

Ideation Orange is an industry leader in branding spaces using interior design, signs and environmental graphics.  If you would like more information on how your space can help you achieve your goals, contact Ideation Orange in Hazel Park,  Michigan.

The post 3 Tips for Branding your School for Millennials appeared first on Ideation.

But wait….how do prospective students and employers feel when they walk through the entrance? What about your campus will make them want to enroll or hire graduates? Will they have experiences that will keep them engaged? What will they tell their friends and family about the visit?

This is where an effectively branded environment can help. Branded environments are more than signs. Branded environments help create a perception about a place through the combination of architecture, interior design, signage, and graphics, extending your values, culture and story into physical space.  If done effectively, branded environments incorporate elements that will make people want to share their experience with others and come back for more.

“The design of physical space has a significant, quantifiable impact on the quality of people’s experience and their likelihood of recommending that experience to friends and family.”

Gensler Research Institute

The Current Landscape

The majority of community colleges I have visited were not designed with the brand in mind. They are often seas of brick walls, lack gathering places for students to build relationships, and give no clear presentation of what makes the place special to current or prospective students. President Knight from Lansing Community College summed it up effectively in his Community College Journal Article.

“Architecturally many community colleges resemble suburban shopping malls… Nothing says dated more than beige painted concrete block and decades of visual clutter in vestibules and hallways”

President Brent Knight – Lansing Community College
www.ccjournal-digital.com

 

So Where Do We Start?

It’s important at the beginning of the journey to figure out the story that needs to be told and how and where it should be communicated in the space. What are the important messages to communicate to current and prospective students? How do we want them to feel? It’s a critical step in the process and when done right, it leads to much smoother sailing through the rest of the project. We call this the discovery and strategy phase.

My student experience

I believe if the walls at your campus could talk they would say more. I’m inspired by the people we have collaborated with at Lansing Community College and Delta College. The dedication of the staff to deliver an amazing education and a welcoming environment cannot be understated. As a graduate of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, I know first-hand the power that a community college can have in shaping a future. By coincidence, I discovered my passion for design at KVCC’s Center for New Media and never looked back! The rising costs of attending a university presents an exciting opportunity for you to refresh your space with purpose and tell a stronger story to the people who walk through your doors.

Jon Moses
Creative Director

Ideation Orange is an industry leader in branding spaces using interior design, signs and environmental graphics.  If you would like more information on how your space can help you achieve your goals, contact Ideation Orange in Hazel Park, Michigan.

The post What is Branded Space and Why Should Colleges Care? appeared first on Ideation.