Hot Chocolate Happy Hour

In my new post, I'm tasked with growing the marketing and brand awareness of my division within the educational community. in addition to designing  more robust professional development, and fostering greater partnerships with other divisions, I'm also trying to have a party or two!

Last month, my team hosted a candy-themed open house, and we're planning a lunch series, starting next season, that is heavy on the sandwiches. However, now that it's somewhat cold with shorter days and less reason to interact, I'm thinking Hot Chocolate Happy Hour.

The idea came to me earlier today, as I was simultaneously showing off the graphics capabilities of the Surface pro and craving a hot steaming of hot chocolate. Brilliant, right. The conflation of technology and treats has always been a winning combination for my teams in the past, giving participants the option of snacking, learning, and getting to know the faces and tools that are available to them.

For this specific day (s), I want to focus on the teams in my building. This is where Academic Technology Services will soon launch our Record & Go Studio, and who best to reach first than the people in closest proximity?!

Coming soon to a campus near you.

This Week: Stock Photography

This week--at my new and already beloved job--I'm shooting a series of student, faculty, and technology-related images for use in any upcoming marketing media I might produce (in the future). It's one of the more nebulous undertakings, as I have no idea what my graphics needs will be a year from today...or even whether I'll be using the pics. Needless to say, I'm shooting faces, hands, ears, full bodies, devices, and locations indiscriminately.

MSU Academic Quad, during fall rain

Working in predominately white environs for my entire career, I already knew of the scarcity of people of color in stock--frankly it was never much of an issue...eventually a image with one or two black /brown folks eventually turned up in my searches (and I always opted to show those marginally diverse images in lieu of more homogeneous). Well, today at an HBCU (historically black college/university), where ratio is flipped to that of the nation (80% African american to 20% other races, ethnicities, and nationalities), it's important. My designs and communications have to reflect this diversity... so one or two tan faces is a crowd just won't cut it.

Female student, visiting MSU website on Surface tablet

Hence my exciting photo project. I'm using student employees, colleagues, and faculty to fill out my arsenal of useful images; plus www.unsplash.com for some beautifully-shot, yet not too specific images.