Designing our Welcome campaign in-house for the first time

Our in-house Creative team was briefed to work on one of our largest student campaigns, running from August to October.

We were tasked to create a strong visual system with core design elements, encapsulating the experience of starting out at University. The design needed to have a personal yet universal feel and to help students find key information in their first few weeks. With a wide range of applications in mind, from digital banners and social media assets to stationery and environmental graphics, flexibility was essential part of the brief as the visual system needed to adapt for all these touchpoints.

The creative idea

As a team of alumni and recent graduates, we have all experienced Welcome in different ways when joining UAL. We reflected on our own experiences, discussed how Welcome felt to us and how these stories could translate into a visual language. From many design directions, we selected to progress a concept called ‘Our universe’.

The initial inspiration came from the idea of our community mirroring the universe, and stars representing the individuals within this. We researched astrophotography, constellation maps and stars—how they behave and document a journey. How they cluster and shine, the depth and vastness of space. The notion of gravitational energy was also important for the concept, suggesting orbits around our Colleges, courses and student journeys and their intersection as part of the wider UAL experience. The creative direction draws from the visuals of constellation maps, using hand-drawn stars to represent the individuality of each student and their journey within the larger universe of our community.

A combination of graphic elements build the visual kit.

The stars at the centre of the system represent our students. As community engagement and participation were integral to the campaign, we ran workshops at our Colleges and invited students to hand-draw stars responding to prompts that relate to their Welcome experience. Each star is unique, representing an individual and creating a constellation.

The holographic material is used to add dimensionality and depth, evoking a sense of travelling through an expanse of multi-dimensional space. We use a 3D render for digital applications and fully recyclable and compostable foiling for printed applications to add shine to the stars.

Typography varies in size and weight, including at least 2 variations to add dimension. The text uses a flexible grid, bringing further movement into compositions. Imagery is aspirational, mainly of students and their creative process.

Roll out

We delivered over 400 assets, from digital banners and social media posts to vinyl floor graphics, 12,000 sketchbooks and nail art designs at the Welcome fair making this one of our largest campaigns to date.

Campaign in numbers

• Over 1,000,000 impressions on Instagram
• Over 100,000 webpage views
• 56.3% increase in Welcome guide page views since 2022
• 69.6% increase of Welcome survey completions since 2023

UAL Creative is University of the Arts London's in-house design agency.

Since 2019 we have been building a team made of mostly UAL alumni, including recent graduates and occasionally students. We are a group of multi-disciplinary designers, freelance and permanent, Junior to Senior typically working on: Design strategy, Design thinking, Design systems, Campaign design—including print, digital and animated assets and Digital product design for teams and projects across the University.

We are within the Communications and Brand Department in the Social Purpose Group and based at the High Holborn campus. We also work with designers through UAL Arts Temps, our university recruitment agency and jobs board, giving UAL students and alumni the opportunity to work freelance within our team.

Head of Creative
Stephanie Feather, she/her/hers, 2008 BA Graphic Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL

Senior Designer
Daniela Di Martino, she/her/hers, 2021 MA Graphic Branding and Identity, London College of Communication, UAL

Graphic Designer
Lily Forbes, she/her/hers, 2020 BA Graphic Design Communication, Chelsea College of Arts, UAL

Junior Designer
Lynn Yang, she/her/hers, 2023 BA Graphic Communication Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL

Junior Designer
David Morrison, he/him/his, 2022 MA Graphic Communication Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL

Freelance Graphic Designer
Lila Meyer, she/her/hers, 2022  MA Graphic Communication Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL

Freelance 3D designer
Imogen Fox, she/her/hers, 2021 BA Graphic Communication Design, Central Saint Martins, UAL

Communications Executive
Patrick Smith he/him/his