The Importance of Presentation and Design
Companies know that the better their advertisements are designed, the more effective they will be, resulting in more people knowing about a product or service.
Likewise, just how the quality of the presentation of a product impacts people’s view on it, the same could be said for other messages and ideas. The better an idea is presented, the more it will sink in with viewers and the more impact it will have.
George Torok, a motivational speaker and marketing expert, said:
“It might seem unfair, but we will often judge you, your organization … on how you, your staff or executive delivered a presentation. We will tend to remember the extremes - really bad or really good … Better presentations don't guarantee you success but they give you a better fighting chance of success. Almost everything you want to accomplish is a fight. Why not gain a powerful edge in your favour? Improve (presentation skills) [1].”
The University of Waterloo is a leading educational organization that has a lot of important messages and information to present to the community. This means it requires an effective way to present this information to the public. The university’s Creative Services department provides effective presentation methods and styles based on their specific strategic approach.
About Creative Services
The Creative Services department at the University of Waterloo helps deliver a high quality unified message by creating videos, brochures and graphic designs. They can create different kinds of media based on the goals of a particular project or initiative. The benefits of having such a department are immense.
The Creative Services web page describes their unique perspective and identity guidelines expertise as:
“As a part of the University of Waterloo, Creative Services has a singular perspective on the Waterloo story — the campus, the people, the University’s goals, its departmental objectives and the importance of the University’s messaging to the world … A thorough understanding of strategic needs as outlined in the strategic brief document and mastery of the Waterloo Brand Guidelines ensure clear and consistent messaging [2]."
This explains why Creative Services is such a great tool for the university to have access to.
Creative Services, are apart of the university and therefore already have some background knowledge to complete a project with the correct goals and objectives in mind. They are also aware of the specific guidelines in terms of format. Creative Services states
"A suite of tools, including a strategic brief document, revised online requisition and updated “how-to” PDFs, will streamline and clarify the ordering process [2]."
This illustrates that Creative Services is an efficient and effective service because instead of spending lots of time trying to figure out how to order from different design companies, one could easily place an order with Creative Services. Additionally, saving time will allow additional time for other projects and ensures projects are completed by the due date.
The Creative Services department is a funded support unit within Marketing and Strategic Initiatives, which allows them to provide funded design for work that directly benefits and promotes the university and its goals. This makes Creative Services an extremely useful and convenient resource for the university to utilize.
Video production
One of the most common ways to obtain information in the twenty-first century is through videos. Creative Services ensures this by having a great team of video experts on campus.
Creative Services can offer a wide range of services in video format such as interviews, promotional videos, faculty and student profiles and animations.
As an example of the quality that Creative Services can offer, included below is the “University of Waterloo 60th Anniversary” Video found in their video portfolio on Vimeo. This video is extremely well made and has the amazing talents of the Creative Services video production team on full display.
University of Waterloo’s 60th Anniversary
Web design
Creative Services can enhance the design of a web page by adding a banner, incorporating inventive eye-catching buttons, highlighting news flashes or combining motion and emotion with the addition of animation and videos [2].
Creative Services states about their web designing expertise,
"Creative Services is the University’s comprehensive source for web design, whether working with Waterloo’s content management system (WCMS) or in the development of a website outside the WCMS. The combination of visual design and technical expertise within the Creative Services’ team results in pages that work effectively for the user and emphasize the critical elements of the website’s message. [2]"
This passage illustrates that Creative Services works with the WCMS which always ensures that content is accessible for everyone by the standards of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). This highlights that Creative Services is always aware of technical aspects of projects as well as visual design.
Photography
Another one of the many services that Creative Services offers is photography. From studio photography to location events, they can arrange professional photographers to take photos using the latest digital technology.
They can also utilize Adobe Photoshop to re-touch and edit photos until they are in accordance with the visual goals of the project, as Creative Services can be very versatile to the needs of any given project.
Brochures
Creative Services also publishes high quality brochures. Below is an example of a brochure that was created to showcase some information for the new Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre on campus. The images, stylistic choices and informative, purposeful format are all consistent with the most effective form of design.
Ongoing Projects
According to Creative Services’ Associate Director Christine Goucher, they are doing a lot of work with other teams on campus such as “Beyond Ideas” and “Waterloo magazine”. They also work actively in the marketing and recruitment of undergraduates.
These three projects have a big influence on the way the University of Waterloo is viewed, since these are some of the primary channels of communication to potential undergraduate students, current students and alumni.
Conclusion
Brand delivery is one of the most important and crucial abilities an organization can have to present themselves to the public.
The Creative Services department gives the University of Waterloo a significant boost in those abilities by creating and implementing effective strategies that help the University present and promote its message.
The more Creative Services are in the forefront of planning of the University’s marketing strategies, the more effective our marketing will be. For more information on Creative Services, or to contact them, visit About Creative Services.
References
[1] Torok, G. (n.d.). Why Are Presentation Skills Important? Retrieved November 06, 2017, from http://www.torok.com/articles/presentation/WhyArePresentationSkillsImportant.html
[2] University of Waterloo. (2017, March 21). Home. Retrieved November 16, 2017, from https://uwaterloo.ca/creative-services/
