The Messiah College Homecoming pieces were sent out to an audience of all alumni to invite them back to campus for the annual Homecoming weekend. The 2013 Homecoming celebration specifically featured the School of the Arts as well as the newest building on campus: The Calvin and Janet High Center for Worship and Performing Arts. The design criteria for these pieces was quite open, other than highlighting the new building and/or the school of the arts in some way the Alumni Office was open to a creative approach to the Homecoming design. The design had to translate across multiple mediums including a save the date postcard, web page, mobile landing page, tri-fold brochure, formal Reunion Legacy invitation, email, digital entrance signage and a 2-color T-shirt design. Since our college website was not "mobile-friendly" I also designed a mobile site specific to Homecoming.
Connecting alumni to their alma mater and motivating them to come back to campus was the main goal of these pieces. We drew inspiration from the campus itself by including an illustrated skyline of campus as the main design element. The skyline illustration prominently features the Calvin and Janet High Center building as well as a root system. The concept of inviting alumni to “Return to your Roots” was well received and that theme/tagline was used throughout the Homecoming suite of pieces. The inspiration for the roots came from an installation by emeritus professor of art Ted Prescott in the entrance to the High Center building. The concept of the roots not only connects alumni back to their college where many foundational experiences and memories shaped their lives but also the “rooting and grounding” that comes from Christian faith.
Ephesians 3: 17-19: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. (NIV)
