PROJECT BRIEF

The Daily Illini is an independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and they release an edition known as Best of CU every year.

The purpose of this annual edition is to honor the vibrant people and places within the Champaign-Urbana community, all based on student votes.

As a graphic designer for the Daily Illini, I led the branding and voting outreach for the 2024 Best of CU edition within a seven-person team over a four-month timeline.

APPROACH

Leading the branding and voting outreach within my team initially consisted of brainstorming sessions and mood boards. From there, I developed branding guidelines with asset tutorials and layout templates, allowing my team and me to create efficiently and effectively.

This project called for many different deliverables, including social media posts, website banners, printed flyers, and the iconic sticker that went on the winning businesses.

The 2024 design was so popular that, instead of the typical newspaper format, the managing editor made it into its own separate magazine.