The cover of the 2022 Annual Report for the SJSU Research Foundation, showing a woman and a young girl with masks looking at a machine in a laboratory setting, with the title and organization details.

SJSU Annual Report

Challenge

Modernize the annual report to better reflect the university’s innovation, diversity, and forward momentum while improving readability and engagement.

Open magazine or brochure with two pages, featuring academic research and student awards, with portraits of two women, Madalyn Radlauer and Rhonda Holberton, on a blue background.
Open magazine spread featuring articles about Jennifer Schachner and Katherine Cushing. Left page shows text and a photo of a swimming facility with a quote in yellow about exercise and aging. Right page has profile info and photo of two people outdoors, with a quote in yellow about community health and prevention.

Strategy

Create a contemporary design system with strong typography, dynamic imagery, and clear data storytelling to showcase institutional impact.

Open annual research report with research statistics on the left page and colorful pie chart and bar graphs on the right page. The left page features research awards, proposals, expenditures, faculty, students, staff, and revenue figures. The right page contains a pie chart showing 2021 award types in different colors, bar graphs of award expenditures and number of awards from 2019 to 2021.

Execution

• Complete publication redesign

• Visual storytelling framework

• Infographics and data visualization

• Print production oversight

Transformed a traditional report into a visually compelling institutional narrative that strengthened stakeholder engagement and brand perception for future projects. And the account manager even sent a Starbucks gift card as a thank you after the project!

Impact