As an aspiring ad man, my site wouldn’t be complete without having a Mad Men reference somewhere on here. Coincidentally, this is also for a project where I had the opportunity to produce ads for an on-campus client.

CSUN with a HEART is a basic needs initiative created for the purpose of addressing hunger, homelessness, and emergency needs within the CSUN community by connecting students with the necessary resources and support offered by on-campus organizations. 

Our team was approached by the CSUN Food Pantry, an on-campus food resource, to redesign the Laurel Hall window wall. For this redesign, we wanted to revitalize the look and feel by giving it a modern refresh distinct to the Pantry.

The vibrance of the original design had lost its luster as the years went on. Although it reflected CSUN’s design guidelines, it was missing something…

Taking the preexisting iconography for the CSUN Food Pantry, I wanted to visualize a path of resources leading to the entrance. The “flow” marked by fresh food and toiletries is meant to guide students-in-need to the support they deserve.

…can’t forget the door!

Along with the window vinyl, our team would also coordinate a posting calendar including content such as volunteer quotes and story polls to help increase engagement and awareness around the CSUN Food Pantry. Keeping consistent with the previous visuals, these posts would include the preexisting iconography across designs.

While having the freedom to get a little abstract in the direction, sometimes an effective ad is simple and straight-forward. Towards the tail-end of my design work during this project, I created a clean, informative QR-based flyer that directs students to the HEART website. 

Every journey begins with that first baby step much like very great advertising campaign starts with that first sketch. Starting with zero design experience, I became intrigued and pushed myself to self-learn what goes into making effective visuals that tell a story.