New On-line Design Brief...

The design brief is one of the essential parts of the design process. Starting a project without one is a bit like building a house without a blueprint. Although it may be possible to do, you may finish the house and then realize that you should have put the front door somewhere else!

So, what is a design brief?

A design brief is a document outlining the business objectives and design strategies for a project. It gets the design wheels rolling and helps us to think strategically about design solutions. It also encourages the client (you) to process and clarify what you need from a project, who the target audience is, and who the key stake-holders are.

How does a design brief relate to a marketing plan?

You could think of a marketing plan as the set of rules that direct your marketing activities. The marketing plan is simply a way to focus on one or more marketing objectives.

A successful design brief will inevitably be informed by your marketing plan. For example, if one of the objectives in your marketing plan is to target a specific age-group, this should be stated in your design brief. We can then use this information to propose design ideas that are coherent with your marketing plan.

Campus Tours: Where, When and Why?

With the 2014 Applicant Day cycle now over (*collective sigh of relief*), I thought it would be a good time to mention our campus tour provision at the Chester and Warrington campuses.

Applicant Days – done!

The Applicant Days have seen upwards of 2,500 applicants - plus associated parents / siblings / friends / partners / babies - pass through our doors over the last few months.  An increase of around 10% on last year’s Applicant Day attendance, this is a great outcome for making our offer more tangible to those applicants who visit us.  We know that conversion rates are significantly higher for people who have attended Applicant Days, and research shows that, however much applicants research into their chosen courses and institutions, the final choice ultimately comes down to whether or not a university ‘feels right’.

Getting a feel for the place 

Providing opportunities to visit the University is therefore a really important part of recruiting students, and booking onto Open Days and Applicant Days is a key call to action in much of our communications with applicants throughout the recruitment cycle.

Despite encouraging attendance at recruitment events, there will always be people who have missed or not been able to attend Open Days and Applicant Days, as well as those who apply late, or are simply slightly disorganised...