HotChalk Rebrand Project Corporate Rebranding Goal Rebrand HotChalk to better represent its corporate goals Role Worked with external branding agency and collaborated on creative direction; assisted in the website development A New Direction When I first joined HotChalk, the company had just gone through a rather substantial shift in direction. Unfortunately, the brand hadn’t caught up with that change. In lieu of taking on this rebranding in-house with limited resources, I decided that the best course of action would be to outsource to an external branding agency that could take on the large workload and tight deadlines. We worked closely in developing the corporate mission statement, logo and brand guidelines, and a new corporate website presence. At one point, the CEO (who was very attached to the out of date brand) stepped aside while I continued working with the agency on execution. The result was a much needed corporate facelift for HotChalk which helped pave the way for future corporate investments. Old Logo Design New Logo Design Brand Implementation & Growth Once the agency had completed their branding and design work, I managed the development of the website internally so that we could determine and control the environment. In doing so, we were able to develop systems to easily maintain and update the website through the many additions, revisions and iterations its had over the years. One large addition was the development of the HotChalk Partner Network. I designed and developed a new B2B page on the corporate website to support our partnerships team in securing additional business, nursing, and educational partnerships. Additionally, I designed a new careers page, hosted by Jobvite that allowed the Human Resources department to post job openings on their own. I worked with Jobvite to ensure the website was developed as designed. Print Marketing Branding efforts continued beyond digital and into print-based corporate marketing materials. One example, is a brochure highlighting the various HotChalk services offered to University Partners. This was created for the sales team as both a leave behind printed piece as well as a digital PDF that can be emailed. Back to Portfolio
HotChalk Education Network Website
HotChalk Education Network Website Project Organic Website Goal Showcase our network of educational publishers while utilizing organic traffic to market our resources to K-12 teachers Role Scope, Wireframes, Design, Development and QA (aka: all of the above) Plan Under a very tight deadline (less than 8 weeks), I worked with various product owners to develop a plan that could be executed in time for a high-profile event promoting the HotChalk Education Network. Design After finalizing the sitemap, content structure and wireframes, the next step was to align the Education Network brand and website design with the newly launched HotChalk brand/website. I wanted to bring it under the HotChalk umbrella but also give it its own unique look and feel. I chose to focus on some of the HotChalk accent colors which I carried throughout the website design. Corporate colors were then used as accent pops of color. Execute Once the comps were approved, I worked with the developers and writers to execute the site – this included responsive development so that the site was optimized for mobile users as well as desktop. At the end of the day, we delivered a fully responsive and functional website on time for the event. Desktop Mobile Back to Portfolio
Direct Mail Campaign – Concordia University
Direct Mail Campaign – Concordia University Project Direct Mail Campaign Goal Reach teachers in their classrooms Role Design As part of an integrated direct mail campaign, we partnered with a school supply company to send customized school supplies to school districts along with gift cards and an informational flyer for teachers to learn about our online masters and doctoral programs. The centerpiece of the package was a customized Dry Erase package that highlights Concordia University – Portland as well as various CTAs. Included with the package was a gift card where they could purchase additional school supplies of their choice. The biggest obstacle with this project was the very short turnaround time. We needed to submit all files for printing to the vendor within two weeks of the contract being signed. I worked with the vendor to ensure that all materials were printed and packaged correctly and on-time. Packaged with the Dry Erase markers was a vertical tri-fold flyer folded so that the promotional offer was visible. This flyer also highlighted the same CTA’s as the markers. We purchased a custom URL which redirected to a specified landing page for this campaign where teachers could request more information. Back to Portfolio