Launch The West Windsor
Arts Center
At the beginning of 2010, and after eight years of planning, the West Windsor township finally agreed to lease the old firehouse to the local arts council to convert it into an Arts Center. While the 8-month-long renovation was on, preparations started for a successful launch.
As the marketing committee chair, I led the brand design and marketing campaign.
About West Windsor, NJ
A township located in New Jersey with a population of
28 ,074 which is ethnically diverse and affluent. Other than highly rated school districts there isn't much to do in West Windsor save for a couple restaurants, malls, and parks in neighboring towns.
The local arts council hoped to inject some excitement with their diverse offerings of art classes, musical performances, dance and art exhibitions.
Challenge
The building was situated on a quiet street that people would often overlook on their way to the train station, or the strip mall nearby.
As a volunteer-run organization, there were limited funds available to promote the organization and garner interest prior to the launch.
My Role
Research, Strategy, Concept, Design, UX, UI, Rapid Prototyping, User testing
Insights
Target audience was primarily composed of seniors or adults
Only a small group of people were familiar with the Arts Council
This lack of awareness made fundraising a challenge.
Without a home of their own the arts council was forced to host small-scale events at the local library or a local park, thereby reducing attendance
Ideation
Logo
Style Guide
Signs
As part of a teaser campaign, our team proposed painting murals on some of the nearby boarded storefronts. However, the township denied this request.
The next option was to use the windows of the firehouse to draw the attention of the passersby. As renovations progressed, the new signs in the window started to attract more attention.
This vibrant teaser graphic by Jeff Tryon set the tone for the entire launch.
Website
One of the most labor-intensive parts of this campaign was configuring and mapping out content for the website.
Key Considerations
• The web design should be clean, yet visually stimulating
• The navigation and site architecture should be simple and intuitive in order to accomodate a wide audience
Prototype
ROUND 1
Interim Webpage: As I was planning and
designing the final website, I built this
webpage in Dreamweaver as a placeholder to keep visitors engaged with regular updates and announcements.
ROUND 2
APPROVED
Free Account with Constant Contact & a Free Facebook Page
I initially signed up for a free account with Constant Contact that provided access for up to 1000 subscribers.
Next, I set up a bespoke template using the new brand guidelines.
I also created a brand new Facebook page for the Arts Center and sent out a link to our subscribers.
Posters & Flyers
A local printer offered to print our flyers at a discounted rate. We distributed flyers at sites where we had previously hosted events, and hung several posters outside local businesses.
2 weeks before the launch date, posters went up at the train station and the local mall.
Results
Since its launch in 2010, the arts center has grown into a thriving gathering point for the greater West Windsor community.
It offers arts education classes and camps, community outreach events and rental space, select performances in theater, music, and dance, literary events, and art exhibitions.
