1. Keep it simple.
Many millennials practice a minimalistic lifestyle, they are largely the offspring of baby boomers who were notorious for keeping everything! As their parents age, millennials are left to manage this mountain of stuff. Consider this when designing the areas of your school. Keep the interior simple, clean and uncluttered. Focus on a bold, contrasting color scheme and simple furniture. Strip down the information in the space to the essentials.
Simple doesn’t have to be boring. Shown above are two examples of bold, contrasting color palettes used in student spaces.
2. Tell a story.
This is true for any design or marketing communication, but it’s often skipped when branding spaces. People remember stories and this is especially true with millennials who engage daily with stories on social media. When it comes to education, stories of recent graduates or examples of careers could help touring students envision their future. Be genuine, use professional photography and graphics to ensure the story is told in a captivating way.
Banners inside a college welding lab, tell a story of future careers to current and prospective students.
3. Encourage sharing.
While sharing can be a little tricky to manage, we know millennials love to participate. Consider ways to use your interior to engage students. This generation has a lot to say, and providing a platform for them to share their perspective will strengthen their connection to your brand. An integrated whiteboard could be used to pose monthly questions to your students. A digital screen could showcase selfies of current students and invite them to participate.
Conceptual design for an interactive selfie screen at Delta College.
Where to start
It’s important at the beginning of the journey to figure out the story that needs to be told and how and where it should be communicated in the space. What are the important messages to communicate to current and prospective students? How do we want them to feel? It’s a critical step in the process and when done right, it leads to much smoother sailing through the rest of the project. We call this the discovery and strategy phase.
Jon Moses
Creative Director
Ideation Orange is an industry leader in branding spaces using interior design, signs and environmental graphics. If you would like more information on how your space can help you achieve your goals, contact Ideation Orange in Hazel Park, Michigan.
