Universities and Apps
Joe Zeff Design took part in an Adobe Education event in Baltimore yesterday focused on Adobe Digital Publishing Suite and its potential impact on universities. The takeaway: DPS is not just a way to digitize brochures; the platform can be used to help attract new students, make schools more accessible, enhance learning materials, intensify fundraising and stay connected with alumni.
We spelled out our lifecycle strategy for universities, using apps to engage students throughout their college experience. Some examples:
1. Attract new students using interactive viewbooks
- Let prospective students experience a class
- Read/watch/listen to testimonials from faculty, students and alumni
- Tour the campus virtually
- Ask questions of admissions officers
- Request information
2. Inform students' choices through enhanced course catalogs
- Sample coursework, reading lists
- Discussion forum to ask questions of other students, solicit opinions
- Extended class descriptions with multimedia
- E-mail links to faculty members
3. Make campus more accessible through an orientation app
- Interactive maps
- Real-time calendars of orientation events
- In-app access to social networks and virtual communities
- Frequently-asked-questions section
- Hotel and restaurant directory for parents
- Campus store
4. Launch a campus bookstore with enhanced learning materials
- Add multimedia, hyperlinks, live feeds to coursework
- Engage with faculty and other students
- Easily update content
- Integrate quizzes, note-taking functionality
- Empower faculty to self-publish
5. Promote athletics through Gameday apps
- Engage fans worldwide
- Sell tickets and merchandise
- Sell advertising and sponsorships
- Promote non-revenue-producing sports
- Promote non-athletic University initiatives
- Boost recruiting
6. Help students find careers in a digital job fair app
- Provide content from companies that recruit on campus
- Offer discussion forum for engaging with recruiters
- Real-time job and internship listings
- Sponsorship opportunities for the university
7. Drive fundraising through in-app capital campaigns
- Provide multimedia content of building projects
- Integrate e-commerce to process donations
- Deliver updates as project reaches milestones
- Offer premium content in exchange for higher donations
8. Engage alumni through digital publishing apps
- Extend audience beyond mailing list
- Host in-app networking opportunities
- Promote alumni events, LinkedIn network, website
- Solicit and process donations
We've been fortunate to work with Notre Dame, UCLA and Maryland Institute College of Art on a variety of apps using Digital Publishing Suite, and look forward to working with others. For more information, contact us at studio@joezeffdesign.com and follow us at @joezeffdesign