Case study

GradSchool developed a new program called the Master of Studies, which endeavours to target the often broad and advanced generalist skills a modern-day worker needs, and positions GradSchool as a university that is responding to ‘the future’ of learning/education/work.

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Background

GradSchool is the University of Newcastle's dedicated arm for postgraduate programs, which offers students and professionals alike a platform for rapid progression in their chosen field and/or a leap in an exciting new direction.

To engage with the changing and complex world, GradSchool developed a new program called the Master of Studies. This program endeavours to target the often broad and advanced generalist skills a modern day worker needs, and positions GradSchool as a university that is responding to ‘the future’ of learning/education/work.

This new program allows its students the flexibility and freedom to ‘design their own degree’, by entrusting the student to taking a generalist focus/trans-disciplinarian focus to the structure of the program.

By allowing students to explore and learn from multiple academic areas, GradSchool recognises the ever-increasing need for the generalist in the modern day world, and the need to develop and inject more holistic and well-rounded graduates that are better able to tackle the challenges of the modern day workforce and environment.

Objective

To drive active consideration and generate excitement around the new concept of ‘build your own degree’, as well as to increase postgraduate domestic numbers for the Master of Studies via GradSchool for the University of Newcastle.

Target Audience

Predominantly individuals that want complete flexibility over what they learn. This audience is not defined by age or gender, but is rather more of a psychographic as opposed to a traditional demographic.

Consumer Proposition

Create your own.

Desired Consumer Response

'I was inspired to investigate/pursue this course'.

Creative Solution

We began by exploring the idea of a generalist vs specialist, inspired by a Forbes article the GradSchool team provided to us during our initial discussions.

“Specialist species thrive only when conditions are perfect. They serve a very specific purpose within their particular ecosystem and are extremely adept at navigating it. However, should those conditions change—as a result of nature or, more commonly, an outside force—specialist species often become extinct.”*

These shifting attitudes of the worldwide workforce stemmed from the understanding that to truly prosper in today’s working environment, an individual needs to be able to tackle a multitude of roles and responsibilities.

This idea was then visually articulated and referenced by the Headjam team through ‘sonobe modules’. The sonobe module is one of the many units used to build modular origami, and the flexibility and simplicity of the system allows a multitude of geometric shapes to be created.

A singular sonobe module was used to metaphorically represent the idea of a ‘Masters’ degree, and the interconnected sonobe modules in the form of a geometric shape, to represent the Master of Studies program – many areas coming together, to produce one goal/outcome, or degree if you will. Visually articulating the idea of ‘shaping the future you want’.

This concept was rolled out through the creation of 3D elements using animation programs, which were then animated into a succinct 30 second promotional animation for the program. The individual 3D elements were then rendered out as stills and used strategically throughout printed and digital advertising for both online and traditional distribution.

Evaluation

The organic promotion of the Master of Studies animation has attracted in excess of 56,000 views on YouTube, and organically received in excess of 6,000 views across Facebook.

* Taken from http://www.forbes.com/sites/me...

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