Mission, vision, values: Waterloo at 100
🏆 Edited to add: This project received the Award of Excellence in the Campaign – Schools & Universities, Excellence 2025 category, awarded by The Communicator Awards. 🏆
The client brief
The objective was to design a visually striking print piece that effectively communicates Waterloo’s mission, vision, and values while seamlessly aligning with Waterloo at 100 and Global Futures. This project serves as a powerful representation of Waterloo’s commitment to building on existing cultural strengths.
The initial request was for a trifold brochure that outlined our values and was targeted toward staff, partners, alumni, and donors.
How Creative Studio adds value
Waterloo at 100 set forth a bold vision for the future, with a key focus on revisiting our core values: honouring our strengths and foundations while fostering a more agile and collaborative culture. Given the Creative Studio’s leadership in developing the design for Waterloo at 100, building upon it was a natural progression.
The design process
Our goal was to craft a visually compelling and dynamic design that would capture attention and inspire engagement. We used our expanded colour palette to create 4 instances of saturated gradients.
A set of four saturated gradients created for this project.
We used a flat 2D text extrusion effect behind each of our core values:
- Think differently: unconventional | bold | innovative
- Act with purpose: positive impact | responsible | get things done
- Work together: collaborative | community | "one Waterloo"
The final designed piece
What began as a simple brochure request quickly expanded into a suite of impactful marketing assets, including banners, posters, stickers, buttons, social cards, and more. With growing momentum and increased engagement, the Creative Studio is energized by the enthusiasm surrounding this initiative.
Trifold brochure
Front and back side of the brochure.
Other assets
Social cards
Results
Our clients and requesters loved the project! The Creative Studio is buzzing with excitement because of all the positive feedback and engagement.
I wanted to send a quick note to pass along kudos for the awesome work you did on the branding and assets for the new Waterloo Values. I had the pleasure of working with the team
on the values project and was so impressed when I saw what you came up with. I love the bright colours and vibe of the design – feels important, bold and fun all at once.