Graphic Design and Marketing

Our design and marketing specialist team is passionate about using their creative energies to fuel university marketing initiatives that attract attention, support your messaging goals and remain in line with university visual identity standards and guidelines.

Designing across print and digital mediums, we create marketing solutions for our partners, including print and editorial design, web and social media graphics, and merchandise design. Projects can vary from a simple trifold brochure to an integrated marketing campaign.
 

Our goal is to collaborate with our academic and administrative partners in creating compelling print and digital marketing collateral. We can also assist in the development and coordination of more complex marketing strategy plans. Project examples include:

• Print materials (posters, brochures, flyers, etc.)
• Web graphics (GW Drupal, social media, university calendar, etc.)
• Environmental branding (pin lettering, wall vinyl, etc.)
• Marketing strategy for an event to include graphics and coordination with internal communications, social media and advertising teams

Every new marketing project/campaign needs a request, so please submit even if you’re already working with a marketing specialist on a different project. (Do not submit separate project requests for different collateral components that are all part of the same campaign.)

Learn what to expect from the design process following the submission of your project request:

Step 1: Project Kick-Off Meeting

A member of the marketing specialist team will reach out to gather information about your project goals and needs. After the initial meeting, we will determine whether you will work with a marketing specialist or directly with a member of the graphic design team.

Next you’ll need to send an edited, proofread, and finalized Word document (or a marked up PDF using the “Comment” tab in Adobe Acrobat) with your text for the project. Please also share any photos you want to use. If you need us to use photos from our University Photo Library, please let us know what you’re looking for.

If there are print components to your project, we will work with you to determine the best printer to print the project with. Our office does not have any in-house printing capabilities.

Step 2: Design & Proof Review Commences

First Proof
Depending on the scope of your project, you may work directly with the designer from this point forward. We typically need 7-10 days to turn around a first proof, and the designer will share it with you directly when it’s complete.

Proofing Process
Please review the proof carefully. You are responsible for reviewing all text, graphics, and photo content for correctness and consistency. Follow our proofreading tips to understand what to look for. The designer will make any requested content or design modifications and send you an updated proof to review again. Most projects require less than three rounds of proofs before being approved.

Please allow 1-2 working days for the designer to make small edits or 2-4 working days for more extensive edits. If you’re working on a larger scale project or have a number for extensive edits, please consult with your marketing specialist on reasonable time expectations for the next proof. If you have a firm deadline, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate it.

How To Provide Edits
We greatly appreciate your making edits on the PDF proof itself. You can do this by downloading and opening the PDF file with Adobe Acrobat, opening the “Comment” tab and making comments or mark-ups on the PDF. Then save and send that file back to us. Please do not use the “Edit” tab in Adobe Acrobat. This helps streamline our design process and gets our designers working on your piece faster. Please also make sure you’re providing the mark-ups in Adobe Acrobat and not in the Dropbox comments field.

Step 3: Final Approval

The project will be considered approved once you have carefully reviewed the final proof and verified that all text and graphic elements are correct. Let your marketing specialist know that the proof is approved.

If the final project is digital-only, we will provide you with a final file in the format requested and the project will be considered complete.

Step 4: Printing and Fulfillment

Our team will support clients in working directly with print vendors. Upon final approval of a project that needs printing, the designer will create a print-ready file package. That package will then be sent directly to the printer or to the client (it depends on who is managing the printing process). The vendor will then send a proof back for approval before production begins. The proof may be digital or hard-copy. The proof approval process should be discussed with your marketing specialist.

Once the print vendor’s proof is approved, the job is placed in production with the vendor and delivered according to instructions provided.

Step 5: Billing

We do not charge for design time or mark up the cost for anything that is printed. Final invoices will be paid by our office and allocated to your banner index code as an expense, or a final invoice will be shared with you to be paid directly with the vendor.

Maintaining a strong, consistent brand is a vital part of maintaining GW’s strength as an institution. Whether you’re promoting your school’s accomplishments or recruiting new students, your materials should clearly be a part of GW.

We are all responsible for maintaining and enforcing GW’s Identity Standards and Guidelines. Our team can advise you on ensuring your materials adhere to these guidelines.

We are pleased to offer a compilation of templates for university departments and schools to download, including virtual meeting backgrounds, email signatures, printable cards, email headers, PowerPoint presentations, memo templates and more.

Branded templates should be used for university business purposes only.