Chosen because Springside Chestnut Hill Academy won Gold in the 2020 Brilliance Awards for Enrollment/Admissions Package. InspirED learned how this award-winner was developed from Deidra Lyngard, Director of Publications and Video.

“I want to go here! Leads with a strong mission and personal and compelling introduction from Head of School; good use of testimonial with specific, relatable details; really strong copy throughout; lots of personality and charisma.”

— Brilliance Awards Judge's Comment

Strategy First

In prior years, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy focused on the key aspects/characteristics of an SCH education (passion-based, project-based, teaching resilience, etc.), but in 2020 they decided to highlight aspects of their mission as a way to create a more coherent message, to tell the SCH story, and to draw the reader in with emotive photography and quotes.

Use In-House Talent

The book was written and designed in-house. SCH formed a viewbook committee comprising two members from communications and two from admissions. The committee worked together to ensure that the book carried both the school brand (style, aesthetic, ethos) and the appropriate admissions messaging (welcoming perspectives in and answering the right questions).

Springside Chestnut Hill Academy’s website garnered silver for website, outsourced.

Going into the design process, there were three primary directives from the team:

Emphasize photography and minimize text.
Echo the look and style of the school’s new website in terms of colors, font style, language, and overarching design elements.
Use uncoated stock. (The school is committed to environmental sustainability and felt that uncoated stock would communicate the idea of quality and care that comes through in an uncoated texture.)

Determine Package Elements

Viewbook — with an embossed cover and a pocket in the back to hold four inserts.
16-page 4 x 9 brochure — stapled into the Viewbook highlighting Upper School students and recent alumni with brief bios and compelling quotes.
Inserts —one for each division: Preschool, Lower, Middle, and Upper School. (Several years ago, Admissions requested that divisional overviews not be included in the main viewbook so that the number of pages could be decreased. The inserts are used to provide highlights of the divisions and are parsed out to families based on what division(s) they’re considering.

“There are many things to love about this project, but you have to really admire the bold use of photography to tell the story. Wide-format images, with just the right amount of text in the right places, guide the viewer through the school’s story. Beautifully done.”

— Brilliance Awards Judge's Comment

Establish a Timeline and Budget

The team began work in May 2020 and completed the project in early August 2020.

“Our goal was to contain costs as much as possible but we didn’t have a specific budget,” Deidra Lyngard, Director of Publications and Video, says. The total cost for 2,100 inserts and 1,000 viewbooks and brochures was $13,105 (not including AAs).

Review Concepts

Two design options were created for the team’s review. The first concept kept the large photos to one page with no bleed and incorporated more text.

The second concept used larger images crossing the gutter and less text with bold headers. The second was the one eventually adopted for the viewbook.

Establish an Approval Process

The viewbook team reviewed and approved all copy and layouts first. Division heads then reviewed their insert copy and images as well as the main viewbook to ensure that there were no photos of students who were no longer at the school.

Additionally, arts, athletics, college counseling, and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership department heads reviewed their sections of the main book.

Finally, the entire package was reviewed by the admissions head, communications head, DEI head, and head of school.

Advice for Others

Deidra says, “If you have the necessary skills in-house, go for it.”

The design, writing, and print production oversight for the SCH viewbook were carried out primarily by one member of the viewbook team.

The other members played an essential role in providing feedback, suggesting different approaches, helping to gather information, getting photo permissions, and providing critical project management oversight and brand continuity throughout.

“It felt great to have our creativity and hard work appreciated outside our departments and among the community. It’s an enrollment package that both Admissions and Communications can take ownership and pride in.”

— Deidra Lyngard, Director of Publications and Video

SCH’s Website Footer Celebrating Their Win

Congratulations, Springside Chestnut Hill Academy! You are brilliant.

TEAM
Deidra Lyngard, Director of Publications and Video
Julia MacMullan, Associate Director of Communications & Marketing
Carlee D'Amato, Director of Upper School Admissions
Allison Gatter, Director of Middle School Admissions

See All the 2020 Winners

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Liza Fisher Norman

Master Electrician, InspirED School Marketers

Master Electrician isn’t just a fun title for me. It’s how I feel about sparking school marketers to do their best work, connecting them to one another, and helping to make their jobs easier. After working with close to 100 schools in the firm I founded — Turnaround Marketing Communications — I realized that school marketers needed a place where they could find brilliant ideas and brain food and feel supported. InspirED School Marketers was born in 2013 to fill that void, and with the help of my fabulous Best Boy, Rob, we are on a quest to make InspirED a resource you can't live without.

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