CLIENT:
Chapman University Fowler School of Law
PROJECT:
Jurist - Presenting Annual Faculty Scholarship
The school needed an annual marketing vehicle to showcase faculty scholarship, which became Jurist–an opportunity to transform traditional academic publication design into something more inviting and contemporary.
Jurist, published each January, showcases not only faculty scholarship from the preceding year but also alumni profiles and faculty news while cataloging faculty presentations and panel appearances. The final design needed to match or better the remarkable scholarship being generated by this faculty, but also offer the reader something inviting.
Rather than use copy-and-paste abstracts or direct quotes from scholarly articles, Jurist requires scholars to pen an op-ed-style article about the piece, drawing heavily on the research findings but reframing them in an engaging and infinitely more digestible piece, easily accessible to both the academic and layperson alike. As academic publication design goes, Jurist represents a break from the mold that makes rigorous scholarship “snackable” for attention-deficit times like these, but also digestible and inviting.
For example, law scholars who work in one particular area of the law, say Intellectual Property, may have little interest in engaging with traditional scholarship on, say, real estate law. However, an op-ed type article that could be read in the time it takes to get your coffee order, removes some of the jargon and academic “gatekeeping” that form traditional barriers to entry to some types of scholarship.
The pages have wide gutters that allow for scholars to add in-line asides/notes and “side-bars” that flow with the text, including QR code links to screen-based resources online. The QR code is used extensively throughout the publication, embracing digital “second medium” attention rather than attempting to limit or exclude it. There are both links to the author’s online biography at the school website as well as to the published academic article, should the reader wish to take a deeper dive into the research following the “taster” of the op-ed.
The newspaper format draws on “un-newsy” and functional elements of traditional newspapers, which have been used, historically, for many things, including mopping up spills, swatting bugs, lining parrot cages, starting fires and the like. The newspaper, as an object, not only serves an informative function but also a practical one as well–there is more use-value in it and, consequently, it has more value as a marketing item than, say, a coffee cup or a branded pen.
The academic wonk in me recognizes a perceived value in noticing a new text tucked under the arm of a colleague, particularly when it’s from your field of expertise. Where did they get it? Why aren’t I reading it? What’s it all about?
I covered all areas of responsibility for this publication, from initial concept and layout design, through copy editing, principal photography and image editing, to proofreading and printing.
