CASE STUDY: Rethinking Higher Ed in Utah
A "Decidedly Different" Brand Elevation for Westminster College
Client:
Westminster College
Project Focus:
Brand Strategy & Scalable UI Architecture
Agency:
Up&Up
Role:
Sr. Digital Art Director
The Win: Elevated Brand Drives Application Growth
The "Decidedly Different" refresh performed exactly as intended: it cut through the generic academic branding in the region to connect with students through a bold, authentic digital experience.
+19.5%
Increase in Undergraduate Applications.
+17.9%
Increase in Admitted Students
The Takeaway:
While total enrollment stayed steady, the jump in applications allowed the school to be more selective (dropping the acceptance rate by 1%), ensuring the enrollment of the right kind of students.
Client Feedback:
The Westminster team loved the new direction. The system gave them the tools they needed to turn their staff into brand ambassadors, while the look and feel finally showed prospective students why Westminster actually stands out.
Overview
Westminster College (now Westminster University) knew their identity, a progressive, talk-heavy school in a conservative state, needed a serious refresh to match reality. At Up&Up, our goal was to build a digital presence that felt "Decidedly Different." As Senior Digital Art Director partnering with our brand strategists, I led the visual execution for our refreshed brand identity, designed the WestX student microsite, and created the scalable UI components for the site redesign. All that work paid off with a 19.5% jump in undergraduate applications.
The Challenge
Westminster had a hurdle: being a progressive liberal arts school in a really conservative region. Their inclusive, eclectic vibe was something local students didn’t usually expect from a Utah school, which created a gap between what campus was actually like and how people saw it.
They needed to stand out from the big, traditional players like BYU or Utah State. That meant ditching the safe, cookie-cutter higher ed look for something bold. We wanted to attract students looking for a real environment where they could just show up as themselves and figure out their own path.
Discovery & Brand Strategy: Capturing the Westminster Experience
Our objective was a full brand refresh that accurately captured the on-campus experience, moving beyond a simple visual update. The Brand Platform process achieved alignment among all internal stakeholders regarding Westminster's core identity. We collectively defined the school as a sanctuary for free thought, a place where students are empowered to explore and define their own trajectory. This strategic alignment resulted in the campaign concept, "Decidedly Different," which became the central anchor for all subsequent visual and verbal communication.
The Solution: A Scalable, Brand-Driven Ecosystem
Higher education is often characterized by cautious, formulaic branding. The Westminster team, however, showed an uncommon level of trust, rejecting the status quo and welcoming a boundary-pushing approach. This critical creative freedom allowed the project to move beyond typical institutional design and craft a bold, authentic visual language that truly reflected the university's progressive spirit and successfully challenged higher education norms.
Brand Platform
I worked closely with the Brand Strategy team to craft the Brand Platform Guide. This key document was more than a static file, it became the collaborative "North Star" for the university, detailing the core brand components (Essence, Pillars, Persona, Vocabulary, and Promise) and equipping internal teams with the tools to communicate the brand effectively.
The Design Details
The identity is pulled straight from the environment, using colors from the Utah landscape. I used vertical line clusters to abstract the mountain ridgelines you see from campus. These "stratified" lines symbolize both a solid foundation and the upward momentum of a student’s journey education as a launchpad.
To keep it grounded, we balanced the modern look with a nod to heritage. An "Est. 1875" tagline honors their history, while the photography focuses on "small moments." By picking candid snapshots over the usual staged academic shots, the whole digital experience feels much more human.
Experience Design: The WestX Platform
We wanted to move the student journey away from those dry institutional portals. To get people excited, we shifted the experience to a dedicated interactive microsite called WestX. It’s a digital roadmap that shows incoming students what hands-on learning looks like before they even arrive.
Leading the UI, my goal was to keep it simple and based on discovery. We swapped the usual info-dump for intuitive interactions, helping students feel more connected to their future at the school during that critical window before classes start.
The Westminster Website: A Brand-Driven Redesign
The final phase was a total overhaul of the main .edu site, providing a strategic redesign foundation built from the ground up to house the brand refresh.
Foundation and System: I established a comprehensive, modular digital design system built entirely upon the new brand elements. This component-based framework ensured visual consistency and technical efficiency across the entire site.
Scalability and Implementation: I led the UI design and worked in close partnership with the development team to translate these components into reusable WordPress assets.
Empowering the Client: By transitioning the site structure from rigid templates to this flexible component library, we empowered the Westminster marketing team to build and update new pages independently while maintaining strict brand consistency.
Conclusion
This project transformed a bold strategy into a scalable digital architecture. As Senior Digital Art Director, I ensured the "Decidedly Different" brand was the foundation for every visual and component we created.
The result was a total transformation that helped Westminster stand out and capture the attention of its target audience.
By challenging higher education norms, a digital ecosystem was developed that redefined Westminster as a progressive leader in the Utah market.
Additional Case Studies
Columbia Climate School
CASE STUDY:
Disrupting the Climate Narrative
Creative Direction & Strategic Storytelling
IIRP
CASE STUDY:
Restoring the Future with 1,800+ Total Conversions
Brand Systems & Digital Transformation | Multichannel Strategy
DISH
CASE STUDY:
Driving a 300% Lift in App Installs
Product Design & UI Architecture | Mobile Product Growth
DISH
CASE STUDY:
Engineering a 17.28% Conversion Lift through Behavioral UI
Conversion Optimization | Data-Driven Brand Systems