Catalog Design and Layout

THE NEED
College of the Mainland’s Continuing Education / Lifelong Learning catalog needed an overhaul and redesign modernizing its appearance and appeal to increase registration while streamlining future issue development. The overall design would need to holistically appeal to ages 18-80 (with the stronger focus on 20-50).

MY APPROACH
Working with stakeholders and collaborating with the marketing team, a new design strategy was implemented simplifying and connecting the reader in a more visually compelling way to prioritize accessibility and the experience for everyone. The legacy catalog was archived as we reimagined the new version from scratch, eliminating unnecessary clutter and visual hurdles from a user perspective so readers could quickly find registration information and dive into new interests. The content strategy redefined course listing hierarchies for easier usability and layout efficiency. Page layouts were revised for a cleaner appearance with color coded bands introduced across sections. Typography was also updated to reflect a more modern aesthetic with cleaner hierarchal organization. Policies and lengthy legal information, originally filling over 10 pages at the front, were moved to the end of the catalog and posted online so as not to distract and dampen engagement upon opening the publication.

THE RESULT
Since the catalog redesign, data has shown an increase in registration and positive feedback while elevating the college’s brand exposure throughout the community. The new Lifelong Learning catalog continues to help establish a new standard for COM providing an easy-to-use format, both online and in print, to engage and communicate clearly with readers.

MY ROLE
Research, design and content strategy, short copy revisions, tagline ideation, design thinking, branding, graphic design and layout, project management