Positioning and AR Prospectus

Norwich University of the Arts

Project overview

Norwich University of the Arts is an Art School like no other in the world. It has a campus that is an eclectic mix of medieval and modern. It’s 175 years old, yet still pioneering. And it’s a place where rule breaking is actively encouraged.

All of this fed into the positioning we developed – ‘Where Curiosity Leads’. A play on words, it puts originality and creativity central to everything it does, like any good Art School should.

Comms were then developed to build upon the ‘Curious’ theme – for example, the prospectus has Augmented Reality trigger points which reveals ‘hidden’ content, such as student videos, animations and showreels.

Project overview

When the pandemic hit, every student was denied a rite of passage – the end of year graduate show.

Working closely with students and the marketing team, we set to work to develop a digital showcase, ensuring they didn’t miss out. Nicknamed ‘showreels’,  the student work is randomly loaded into a set of 4 columns, ensuring a unique experience every time you land on the site. Each column can then be explored independently, tapping into the aforementioned ‘Curiosity’ theme.

Alongside the mobile-friendly website, we also created social and digital campaigns to drive eyes to the student’s work.

Project overview

Global HE conferences are very competitive, with each vying for standout in a very saturated market. Following insight from NUA’s International Officer, we knew our key communications had to work really hard to gain any traction amongst the discernible international crowd.

Our solution was to create a prospectus which had a whole series of vibrant dust-jacket covers, doubling up as a poster when folded out. These were created using actual International Student Work – giving instant aspiration to the recipient. Inside was then used to really sell Norwich as a destination – lots of stunning shots of the campus and large green areas to entice them to come to Norfolk.

Project overview

Due to the pandemic, NUA required a digital platform to showcase their postgraduate student degree work to industry professionals and the public.

We designed an interactive website which would harness a feeling of exploration, brought to life through a huge canvas of student work, in which users could wonder through at their own pace and direction. Individual portfolio pages would provide a space in which to fully showcase the breadth of their work and tell a story.

Project overview

In an ever-competitive higher education landscape, NUA required an Open Day campaign identity that would help it stand out as an industry leader in undergraduate and postgraduate degrees and attract new audiences to visit the campus, and ultimately choose NUA above it’s competitors.

We created the campaign to showcase the very best images of student work, to inspire and grab the attention of young creative students with aspirations of careers in the arts. A mix of bold typography and stunning images of student work help to stand out against a sea of competitors, rolled out across printed adverts, brochure and merchandise, as well as across social, google and targeted digital ad space.

Project overview

University of East Anglia is ranked as one of the top universities for overall student experience, with their on-campus music venue giving access to some of the world’s biggest bands and DJ’s, as well as being located close to the historic city of Norwich.

University of East Anglia commissioned Ark to think of a bold and innovative direct mail idea to send to prospective students, which would help to communicate the experience of university life – beyond just its educational offering.

We sent UEA student a ‘Soundtrack to your studies’ box to prospective students, with each containing a booklet of collated Spotify playlists, personalised stories and a pair of earphones to help place UEA at front of mind when selecting a University.

Project overview

Since 1991, the UEA Literature Festival has been attracting world-class writers and thinkers to Norwich. It’s here that formidable talents – such as Zadie Smith, Kazuo Ishiguro and Emma Healey,
to name a few – have given lively interviews about their life and work to over six thousand book-lovers each year.

After 20 years, the festival wanted to shake up its brand appeal to attract a younger and demographic and reflect literature’s place within the modern world, renaming to UEA Live and bringing to life a new visual identity.

Ark were commissioned to take the Festival into its next chapter, with a vibrant, fresh look designed to play out across print and digital applications, appealing to a whole new generation of literature fans.

Project overview

After going though a rebrand process with Wolff Olins agency, we worked with University of East Anglia on the next stage of the brand process – the Brand Guidelines.

This 180 page document guides everyone who uses the UEA brand, from the marketing staff through to signage suppliers. The rules and guidelines allow everyone who uses the brand to be aware of how and where all brand elements should be used. This includes guidance on logo, colour and typography application, creating a consistent tone of voice and a comprehensive suite of creative templates.

Project overview

The annual UEA Innovation and Impact Awards celebrate the remarkable research and entrepreneurial spirit of UEA staff, students and graduates, as well as the important collaborative work with with valued partners.

We worked to create a brand identity to literally smash through the expectations of UEA brand application. We created a big impact by breaking the iconic UEA Glint (and our own guidelines) into hundreds of tiny pieces, redefining convention and creating impact across printed communications, as well as bringing this to life visually through video ident animations.

Project overview

University of East Anglia has a reputation for providing one of the best overall student experiences, with its eclectic collection of shops, cafe’s and bars on campus, as well as being situated in the historic city of Norwich.

In a bid to communicate this offering to prospective and new students, Ark were commissioned to create the guide ‘City & Beyond’ to demonstrate the breadth of shops, attractions, entertainment, nature and wildlife available to students on their doorstep.

We worked with photographer David Drake to photograph 108 businesses and venues across the City and beyond, collated across individual city and campus guides bound together.

Project overview

During the pandemic, NUA worked hard to ensure that digital environments were used to create dynamic experiences, which prospective students could use to learn about the university, the city of Norwich and student culture.

Ark were approached to create a digital experience which would bring to life this expansive offering. We created a one page website which connected the dots of the NUA story, from one transition to another –  taking the user on a journey through the university and the culture of Norwich.

Project overview

Norwich University of the Arts’ Beyond the Frame competition invites young photographers from across the UK to enter their best images in response to that year’s theme. Run in collaboration with Canon, it’s judged by industry-leading photographers, and the best entrants win top-of-the-range Canon camera equipment.

We were asked to create a stand-out brand identity and accompanying campaign to promote the competition and attract new audiences, that reflected the creativity of the entrants and the spirit of the competition itself.

Taking inspiration from the idea of the ‘frame’, we created a flexible logo wordmark – a simple rectangle that interrupts the bold typography to frame a detail of the image it overlays. This plays out across a series of printed posters as well as an animation on the website design and digital ads.

Project overview

Norwich School has a long and proud history as one of the top performing schools in the country for GCSE and A-Level results. They also offer a series of bursaries to children from any background and demographic, providing the opportunity to thrive no matter what financial standing.

Ark were approached with a creative brief to break the stereotype of Norwich School being elitist, and in turn to help attract a whole new audience to explore bursary opportunities, by attending an Open Day.

Through a series of bold and vibrant graphic devices and aspirational messaging, we created a campaign identity that would break the convention of private school advertising, turning heads and opening the door to a wider audience with confidence.