Our redesign of Stevens Indicator Magazine connects alumni, faculty, and friends with the university and each other through compelling stories that capture the far-reaching impact of the Stevens experience: a technology-centric education, inspired by humanity, which equips graduates to fuel the innovation economy — and transform the future.
Strategic Priorities
We developed new standing departments and features that reinforce institutional strategic priorities. These sections are designed to be easily sustainable and help ensure consistent breadth of coverage each issue. The opening pages and table of contents introduce readers to feature stories and 3 magazine sections: Panorama, Impact, and Alumni.
Varied and Compelling Editorial
”Panorama” captures the expansive feel of being on the Stevens campus today as well as the department’s mission of bringing readers a wide range of campus news. This section opens with a two-page “panoramic” photo of campus with an accompanying news story and continues with a mix of longer and shorter university-based news items. This variety in pacing, intended to keep readers engaged, includes new recurring columns such as “Conversation Starters,” containing quotes from faculty and staff who are featured in major news outlets, “Castle Point,” providing a round-up of Stevens newsmakers, and “Final Exam,” highlighting innovation in education by focusing on a capstone project.
“Impact,” offers dedicated space for research from faculty and students, with an emphasis on the applied aspect of turning innovative ideas into solutions to benefit society. The opening spread features a single research story accompanied by a large conceptual illustration. The section is rounded out with “Cited,” a page that highlights recent faculty research studies.
“We are so proud of this true team effort! President Farvardin loved it — he called it “magnificent” and “beautiful.” He held it up at a cabinet meeting this week, to a round of applause.”
Beth Kissinger, Editor
Strategic Feature Stories
We recommended that Stevens move away from lengthy collections of mini-articles around a theme and instead plan for three discrete feature articles, with each focusing on a different, strategically selected and Stevens-centered topic, to ensure a wide breadth of coverage of the university and to appeal to a broad range of readers. The newly defined feature stories focus on Stevens faculty and students and university programs, while weaving in alumni “expert voices” as appropriate.
For effective pacing and to provide readers with a shorter, easier read between the two longer feature stories, we created a “How-To” spread for a visual storytelling approach — one that capitalizes on Stevens’ alumni appetite for facts, data, and problem-solving. “How-To” highlights a new research innovation or university project or program by breaking it down into short, reader-friendly and easy-to-follow steps, accompanied by a custom illustration.
“Working on this issue has been a dream for us. We can’t express our gratitude for your partnership enough!”
Stacey Greene, Assistant Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Brand Management
Celebrating Alumni
To align with the other 2 section openers, the Alumni section begins with a full-page archival photo. This section is a big draw for Stevens alumni, with a significant percentage of them assigning high value to class notes. Therefore, we retained a lengthy notes section but interspersed alumni profiles and unique standing departments throughout.
To tap into alumni appetite for nostalgia, “Out of the Archives” shares objects from the library’s special collections. The materials are professionally shot and annotated to put them into context.
The magazine closes out with “The Solver,” a page featuring an alumni expert who offers quick bits of advice in a lighthearted comic strip. As an added touch of school spirit, each comic includes a cameo appearance of the Stevens’ school mascot.
Memento
The back cover is composed of a single, striking object capturing a fun, quirky, or notable aspect of the Stevens experience, with short explanatory text pushing readers inside the magazine to learn more.