Campus Cares Hub

Goal

Give the hub a warm, welcoming identity that makes students want to walk in, not feel like they have to. The system needs to work across every surface, from a printed flyer to a wall mural, so the space reads as community, not charity.

The brand and marketing system for Campus Cares, a new campus basic-needs hub in the former bookstore building. The hub consolidates services into one place: a food pantry and bodega, social services, community resources, a kids corner, a hangout space, and a monthly farmers market. The design work spans print, digital, signage, and mural concepts.

Audience

Two audiences at once. The hub itself serves the college students facing basic-needs insecurity, at a Hispanic-Serving Institution where roughly 44% of students are food insecure. The design work is also student experiential learning, real client work done by students for a real campus initiative.

Process

A two-person team runs it: a faculty lead plus a paid student design intern working through an AmeriCorps education award. AI is part of the production workflow for research and briefs. The build moves in phases, from research and brand foundation through the illustration library and mural concepts, so students only start painting once the visual language is set.

Technology

• Adobe Creative Cloud across the system: Illustrator for the logo and illustration library, Photoshop, and InDesign for print, flyers, and signage.
• A phased build designed from the outcome backward: research and brand foundation, then the illustration library, then mural concepts, so painting begins only once the visual language is set.
• AI in the production workflow for research and creative briefs.
• One identity that has to hold across every surface, from a printed flyer to a wall mural.

Outcomes

The system is rolling out across the hub’s surfaces as the space opens, so the measures are named up front rather than claimed: whether students walk in and read the space as community rather than charity, and whether the identity holds from a flyer to a mural without fraying. For the student intern it is already a real outcome, a full brand system and mural work built for a live campus client through a paid AmeriCorps placement, ready for a professional portfolio.

Status

Rolling out as the hub opens. The brand foundation and core system are built, and the illustration library and mural work are going up on the hub’s surfaces phase by phase as the space comes online. It runs as a live, paid student experiential placement, a real client engagement rather than a closed-out project.