A recruitment brochure and companion postcard gave Northwestern State University’s Master of Arts in Heritage Resources a public-facing visual identity. Their surviving artwork shows how a diverse set of heritage disciplines was translated into a coherent invitation.
Introducing a field that crosses boundaries
The graduate program brought together archaeology, historic preservation, conservation, ethnology, archival research, and other heritage practices. Its curriculum and academic leadership were the responsibility of Northwestern State faculty, including program coordinator ElizaBeth Bede Guin. I designed and produced recruitment communications for the program; I did not administer or teach the degree.
How do you explain an interdisciplinary degree?
Prospective students needed more than a list of courses. The program’s breadth had to be intelligible, professionally relevant, and memorable. The surviving materials address that communication problem by moving between the tangible work of heritage professionals and the larger idea of a degree connecting those practices.
A shared graphic language, with different jobs to do
The postcard concentrates the message in a striking cluster of hexagonal photographs and the declaration, “The Degree That Brings It All Together.” The images function as components of one field rather than as unrelated specialties.
The brochure makes the argument in greater detail. High-contrast black panels, photographs of hands-on work, prominent headings, and passages on internships, employers, and the course of study move readers from interest to practical consideration. Its design is not only decorative: visual emphasis helps a broad subject become navigable.
Both artifacts use heritage imagery and a coordinated account of professional practice. Their relationship is visible in the surviving work; a formal creative brief or documentation of individual design decisions has not yet been recovered.
The recruitment brochure
Both original printed sides appear together in this single PDF reader. Scroll once through the entire brochure. For sharper enlargement and full-size examination, open the source PDF directly.
What survives—and what it demonstrates
The brochure and postcard survive as finished recruitment pieces and evidence of a coordinated communications approach. They show how the program was presented publicly, and they preserve my contribution to the institution’s graphic communication. Evidence of the print run, reception, circulation, and recruitment results has not been located; claims about campaign effectiveness would therefore be premature.
What this case suggests
Heritage communication often involves translating work that spans professions, disciplines, and communities. Here the design does that translation visually: distinct practices remain identifiable but form part of a common identity.
What I carry forward
A useful design case study preserves more than its finished appearance. It identifies the problem a visual system was meant to solve, distinguishes surviving work from remembered intention, and leaves space for evidence that may yet be recovered.
Consult the record
Original MAHR recruitment brochure — locally preserved PDFCompanion recruitment postcard — original graphicArchived brochure copy in Google Drive — access may be restrictedHeritage Resources Program Legacy — broader institutional and project record
Record, memory, interpretation
Record: The surviving brochure PDF and postcard reproduce the completed visual materials. The brochure file in Drive carries an archival modification date of September 7, 2004; a file date alone does not establish the distribution date.
Memory and attribution: I remember creating the brochure and postcard together for the program. Their final files support the account of the campaign; specific production roles, dates, and print specifications remain subject to further corroboration.
Interpretation: The discussion of visual hierarchy, messaging, and complementary roles is an analysis of the artifacts, not a recovered statement of the original design brief.
What else can these artifacts tell us?
How were the materials distributed? Which audiences received them? What survived of the original production files, print specifications, or campaign correspondence? How did the program measure its recruitment efforts?
Additional copies, production records, recollections, and corrections would deepen this case without replacing the documented evidence.
Add to the Record →A Career in Heritage Resources
The complete brochure is displayed once above, in its original layout. The preserved PDF is available separately for full-size examination or download.
Return to the brochure viewer ↑ · Open or download the original PDF ↗
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