College Admission by Carlie

Getting In or Getting Out: College Admissions

» Teamwork @ EdLab

» Role: Visual/Concept Designer & Fabricator

» Collaboration: TC Librarians

» 2019 June - September

» Book Campaign & Educational Experience through Board Game

» Exhibit Location: Everett Cafe & Offit Gallery, Teachers College Columbia University

Getting In or Getting Out: College Admissions is a project to promote "The Everett News Cafe Book Collections", a themed book display curated by Gotesman Library staffs. It also provides an educational experience focusing on the college admissions process in Everett Cafe.

Located at 1st floor of Teachers College, Columbia University, Everett Cafe is usually filled with customers including college students, faculty, staffs, parents, and researchers. The project delievers a playful solution at the Cafe entrance to draw customers' attention, start conversations between strangers, and hightlight the themed book collection through a board game.

The project was afterwards selected and exhibited at Offit Gallery, Teachers College as a part of the library innovative design showcase.

Main Tools

Graphic Design | Adobe Illustrator | Large-scale Print | Magnets | Lasercutting

Concept Development

Challenge and Goals

1. How to attract audiences in very limited time when they are waiting in line or on their way out

2. How to make it an experience that brings people back

Initial Concept After Research

» The admission conditions, the process of collecting materials, and the different types of efforts people put into the college admission process reminded me of games.

» Different avatars can be provided to make users feel more representative

Inspirations - Board Games

1. Chutes and Ladders

2. Candy Land

3. Game of Life

Solution

A new board game with three starting points and paths:
» Family made a donation
» Impressive extracurriculars
» Work hard on score, research and paper

It will be randomly decided by the first round spin number which also reflect the real life - you can't control where you were born.

Meanwhile, random events are embedded in the paths, like "You forgot to save your paper", or "Your family donation is found illegal", which may completely change the game path.

13 characters are designed to make users feel more representative, with stickers for them to take.