Every Student Has a Story

When we began working with Montreat College, a liberal arts institution in the surrounding mountains of Asheville, NC, the college was on the verge of potentially closing its doors due to low enrollment and the common financial difficulties that plague many of the country’s smaller colleges and universities. One of their struggles was not knowing how to communicate their value proposition to prospective students. Much of the college’s past identity was based on their geographic location and the desire for students to come to the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains to study.

As we began exploring what Montreat had to offer, a new narrative emerged that was based on each student’s unique story being written at the school. Strong academic achievement and preparation for calling and career became the new centerpieces of the student experience.

Concept

We spent time on Montreat’s campus interacting with faculty, staff, and students to better understand the Montreat experience. After many conversations with the people that made up the institution, a new narrative and sense of value began forming around the strong intellectual level of its academics and the equipping of a lifetime understanding of true calling and career for its students. From there our ideation sessions helped us translate this story into a value statement for prospective students. “Where every student has a story” became one of these statements.

Print

We carried Montreat’s new narrative and tone into print pieces ranging from the entire Admissions materials suite such as the viewbook, direct mail postcards, and acceptance packets to the alumni magazine and Career & Calling conference branding.

Brand Guidelines

We took this new narrative and created simple Admission and Recruiting brand guidelines that reflected the concept in a visual story.

Web

We translated the new visual narrative and look into the web and worked with Montreat’s communication team to give a facelift to its web and social media presence—eventually leading to an entirely new college website design.