MIT Together
Reassuring students that they aren’t alone.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a reputation for being global leaders in education, research and innovation. The level of prestige has had an unintentional impact on the mental health of some individuals attending the school. MIT met these concerns by responding with a campus-wide campaign to aid students, faculty and staff.
“A Connection” starts with two. As we developed the name, identity and overall campaign messaging, it was important to provide warmth and tonal neutrality—being positive but not patronizing. After our discovery we realized the best way to resonate with students was devising a logotype that expressed connection points—conceptually distilling our visuals to that of a simple dot-to-dot treatment. Working from the symmetry of the three letters “MIT,” the “i” became a natural focal point to place thematic activity.
Colors have feelings too. Our soft and warm color palette selection was carefully considered based on overall approachability, allowing it to feel familiar yet serious and sophisticated. We could also allocate an emotional scale to give meaning to each hue. (red=distressed / yellow=neutral / green=great).
How the logo came together. Starting with a basic grid, we drew the “MIT” letterforms, keeping the dots that connected the two points of the “i” together.
Welcoming & Informative. It was important to make sure information on the website was easy to find. Our visual language grew from simple dot-to-dot connection points to incorporating graphic ‘nodes’ within blocks. Depending on how you rotated the blocks, connections were made. An academic “Stress Calendar” pinpointing potential inflection points during the semester also utilized our visuals in an infographic way.
Merging Visuals & Message. Visually, connections start with just two conjoining squares. Thematically, if you are someone struggling to find help, all it really takes is connecting with one other person. But the strength of our visual language was also implying that connections can grow exponentially, finding commonality groups on campus like clubs, sports, or music ensembles. We developed a ‘voice’ in our messaging that was witty at times; leaning into an explicit ‘dad-joke’ type humor to bring metaphors to life and in front of students who might need a subtle push to put a small smile on their face.
Infinite ways to engage. Part of our messaging strategy was to develop a series of posters that contextualized dealing with stress through simple and witty analogies (like math sets and science problems) that an MIT student would fully understand. In relation to each poster’s message, we pointed out different resources available that could alleviate their concerns in tangible ways.
Exponential Possibilities. The posters were designed to be placed around campus in a series spanning anywhere between 1 to 100 depending on the space. One of the more powerful poster campaign moments (that expressed the themes of “togetherness”) was lining MIT’s “Infinite Corridor.” The posters were linked side by side going the whole (823 ft) length of the building where students frequently pass through.
Applied Ideation. After designated a color-coded system to a wide range of emotions, a proposed app was developed to help students track and keep record of their daily mood. Implementing our identity as a scale, students could tap, slide and log their emotional ups and downs. Students also had the ability to either opt-in and share their information with a licensed therapist, or choose to keep track of it privately.
Inclusive functionality like getting general tips and resources, or having access to a 24hr therapist called “TIM” (MIT spelled backwards), or a quick-click “get help now” emergency button— all provided user with an array of different entry points. It also was a helpful tool for fellow peers assessing how best to connect with their friends who they perceive might be having emotional difficulties.
Cards to Connect. Clever business cards were given to faculty and staff to be handed out to students as an extension of the campaign. A suite of witty messages and imagery were placed on one side, and space for contact information on the other.
In or Out. Door hangers were also created at the beginning of the campaign launch designed to be helpful tools for resident advisors—facilitating engagement with their floor.
Alternates. Part of each branding phase, a [variable] range of options are developed. These logos below were in the top three selected for consideration. The first plays off of the “i” in MIT where we proposed using language as the connecting device.
The second alternate was constructed by center-eliding the letters in MIT’s logo over one another (in essence bringing all the forms together). The intrinsic beauty of this option was discovering that the shading of the semi-transparent letters actually made the “T” for “Together” more pronounced.
