James Madison University
This Week at JMU (TWAJ, as we call it), is a weekly Instagram series designed, edited, and planned by myself, my fellow interns and supervisors at James Madison University Communications.
The story is a major piece of our social media communication and is aimed at students, alumni, faculty & staff, as well as the larger JMU community.
It is part of the brand messaging strategy which emphasizes dependability, community, diversity, with an overall student focus.
it’s gone through updates and changes much like the school itself. The goal of these changes is always to make the product as user friendly, innovative, and as efficient in communicating as it can be.
What is TWAJ?
Why TWAJ?
One trait that everyone values in a school, brand or organization is communication. Communication is not only the string that holds all of us together, it is also a key part of showing your dependability, empathy and strengths. TWAJ, while a small and simple part of the JMU communication strategy allows parents, students, faculty & staff to feel that are updated on the schools activities, a part of major decision making processes and, the most important element of what makes JMU, JMU.
POP GIPHY Stickers
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Duke Dog
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Jimmy Madison Statue
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Tim Miller
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Graduate
Creative Thinking
JMU already had a presence on GIPHY. Having had a pervious intern create graphic stickers for the JMU community to use on their social media posts & pages.
My job was to find a new way to be creative on the platform and make graphics that the community wants to use & will seek out.
I learned that students want representation of the student body & the iconic figures in our community. I found in conversations with fellow students and faculty that the more personal a social media element or post feels, the more we want to use and be apart of it. he use of graphics that are unique to JMU allows students to take pride and who we are and who THEY are. It started with iconic figures like our mascot, VP of student affairs, and James Madison. Now, I’m working on creating figures that represent the students and their ambitions through their chosen majors.
Graphic Posters
Keeping with the theme of being uniquely JMU, the graphic posters were a passion project for me with the goal of emphasizing the school pride that all students feel.
The big idea here was, power, what makes us feel powerful.
Infographics
JMU often creates infographics to share information in a creative and attention grabbing way with the JMU community and beyond. Every semester, we create an infographic called “By The Numbers” which features statistical information about this semesters graduating class.
There is always a different design to these infographics but for this I wanted to find a way to show the people beyond the numbers. And, remind the community that each graduate while included in these stats is their own person who worked tirelessly to earn their individual degree. That is why the graduate stands alone in the crowd at the center of this graphic.