5-12 Math Summit

Math is essential for student success, providing logical thinking and problem-solving skills. Uncommon Schools hosts an annual summit for math educators to collaborate on innovative teaching methods.

  • Campaign Redesign

    • Campaign messaging

    • Iconography

    • Campaign markup

    • Marketing

The Background

Uncommon Schools is a remarkable network of high-performing charter schools on a mission to bridge the achievement gap for students in underserved communities. They achieve this through a rigorous academic program that prepares students for college and equips them for success beyond the classroom. Proficiency in math is critical to their success. Uncommon Schools organizes an annual summit for math educators to ensure excellence in this area. This summit tackles the challenges of math instruction and explores innovative approaches to enhance learning outcomes. Focused on empowering students to think critically and solve complex problems, the summit keeps educators ahead of the curve, arming them with the tools necessary to prepare them for academic and career triumph.

The Challenge

This year, Uncommon Schools aims to enhance its annual regional Math Summit by creating a cohesive event identity that captures the collaborative spirit of educators dedicated to advancing STEM education. Our goal is to develop a visual and experiential narrative that promotes the sharing of ideas and stories and emphasizes the transformative power of math skills in shaping students' futures. By creating a bold logo and engaging collateral, we aim to establish an atmosphere that encourages innovation, celebrates the importance of math, and empowers educators to lead dynamic workshops that inspire lasting impact.

The Opportunity

We embarked on this journey with a fresh perspective and a burning curiosity to delve into the minds of math educators and discover what initially ignited their passion for mathematics. We brought together the marketing team, math committee, and school operations team for workshops to glean insights into their vision for the Math Summit. Through active listening and collaborative efforts, we crafted a shared vision that resonated with everyone. This ensures that the diverse perspectives and goals inform every decision we make in the design phase of the entire group. This process empowers us to create an event that celebrates the beauty of math, fosters innovation, and sparks enthusiastic participation from all attendees.

Celebrating the fun of Math + Science

Lately, pop culture's been a fantastic shift towards embracing all things "nerdy" as excellent, accessible, and impactful. With the rise of technology and entertainment, the spotlight is on how math and science shape our world and drive innovation. Inspired by this cultural revolution, our design strategy captures the fun and thrill of mathematics and science. Our goal is to create a visual identity that mirrors the liveliness and significance of STEM in our daily lives, showing that the world would be a lot less colorful and dynamic without these fields. Through engaging and playful design, we want to showcase the transformative power of math and science, making these subjects essential, incredibly exciting, and empowering.

Nerdy x Nature

During our brainstorming sessions with the Math Council and marketing team, we developed a plan to honor underrecognized pioneers and influencers in STEM—individuals like artists or celebrities who have made significant contributions to math and science. Like today's tech giants disrupting the status quo, the STEM figures we selected were disruptors of their time, reshaping their fields and influencing the modern world. We have decided to introduce these trailblazers in a series titled "Nerdy by Nature," which will showcase their groundbreaking work and their lasting impact on shaping our world today.

Campus-wide Social Engagement

The social engagement strategy utilizes Columbia University's digital platforms to create a tangible impact. The campaign promotes a collective sense of responsibility by producing shareable content showcasing personal stories about vaccination and flu prevention. We can distribute this content through collaboration with different departments and schools across various social channels, raising awareness and sparking community-wide discussions about flu prevention. Our primary objective is to ensure that everyone is informed about where and when they can receive vaccinations, ultimately leading to higher vaccination rates across the campus.

A New Approach

We revamped Columbia University's communication strategy, developed compelling messaging, and collaborated with multiple departments to emphasize the significance of getting a flu shot. Leveraging Microsoft Suite, we designed customizable templates. We infused the campaign with personal anecdotes of individuals getting vaccinated, adding a human touch to the initiative.

TONE OF VOICE

Youthful, Conversational, Humorous, Upbeat

CAMPAIGN SLOGAN

Take Care of You, Fight Flu

HASHTAG

#fightflu

Humanizing Through Illustrations

The campaign was truly brought to life through the power of illustrations. We used simple, rounded illustrations and icons to weave personal stories and essential information together, capturing the audience's attention and enhancing their understanding. This created a cohesive and memorable identity for the campaign and played a crucial role in driving awareness and inspiring proactive health behaviors.

Crafting our Color Palette

We put a lot of thought into choosing our color palette to perfectly complement the Columbia colors and build a dynamic visual identity that's truly one-of-a-kind for our campaign. Our color selection was carefully crafted after studying other health campaigns, and it's designed to look great and be memorable for our messaging.

Community-Driven Vaccine Campaign

We humanized our campaign, leveraging our diverse community to spread the word and share our vaccine stories. Our collective effort brought unity and engagement, leading to a successful campaign that reduced our print materials by 23%, increased social media engagement by 339%, and boosted vaccinations by 15% compared to the previous year. As a result, Columbia Health has updated and expanded the campaign, leading to a 21% increase in vaccinations administered, with 18,057 flu shots in 2022.

339% Increase in social media engagement

10,162 Influenza vaccinations administered

23% Decrease in printed materials

Project Credits

  • Columbia University Health

  • 2018

  • Campaign Redesign

    • Brand Strategy

    • Design System

    • Logo Design

    • Visual Identity

    • Campaign Guidelines

    • Columbia Print Services

    • Columbia Strategic Communications