Beloit College
Founded in 1846, Beloit College is one of the oldest, most admired private colleges in the country. They practically pioneered liberal arts education. But despite their powerhouse reputation, international recognition, and venerable history, the college was starting to face declining enrollment. They were starting to feel like the world was shifting away from the liberal arts. Beloit College asked Swink to rethink the way they were introducing themselves to new students.
- Brand Strategy
- Visual Identity
Own “Liberal Arts”
At Beloit College, we found the Liberal Arts were very much alive. We saw nothing “impractical” or “soft” about it. The education was challenging, multi-disciplinary, and engaged. What we found was that Liberal Arts was simply being talked about the wrong way. While everyone else was running away from the Liberal Arts, we should boldly claim it as our own.
Amperland
At the heart of liberal arts education, we found an ampersand.
The “&”
“&” is additive. Seemingly every student was building an education with fascinating, unexpected combinations. Marine Biology & Theater. Material Design & Physical Education. Liberal Arts meant bringing together the people, concepts, ideas, and passions that you would never expect to live together. These were interesting kids building the foundation for truly interesting lives.
“&” goes deeper. As a question, “...and?” is a way to keep exploring, to refuse to accept that what’s at the surface is all there is to see. “And?” was the key question behind the Liberal Arts, penetrating and illuminating the world around us.
Introductory Brochure
We created a short-form brochure distributed to college fair attendees positioning Beloit College as Amperland — the unapologetic home to true Liberal Arts education.
Introductory Brochure interior spread
Introductory Brochure cover fold out
Introductory Brochure interior spread details
Admission Booklet
A large-format booklet for serious students. We designed it big to stand out among the sea of competing college materials and highlighted the amazing “&”s of a self-directed, Liberal Arts education.
Admission Booklet cover
Admission Booklet interior spread
Admission Booklet interior spread
Brand Guidelines
This booklet served as a resource for internal Beloit staff to maintain the visual language across all their admissions efforts.
Brand Guidelines Booklet interior spread
Results
Beloit College recorded an immediate 33% year-over-year increase in admissions following the introduction of the Amperland campaign.