Brown University Marketing

Communications materials for the Cogut Institute for the Humanities at Brown University

Video Interviews

Measuring Impact with Qualitative Research

The Cogut Institute for the Humanities offers courses and programs that complement the work of deparments across the university, which makes it tough to indentify metrics for assesssing impact. We rely, therefore, on interviews with stakeholders.

For example, in 2023 I interviewed four outgoing postdoctoral research fellows, whose appointments at Brown had been funded by the institute, about their experience.

Key insights:

  • The fellowship cultivates intellectual community across disciplines and ranks, which alleviates the isolation of scholarly work

  • The fellowship provides scholars with the time and encouragement necessary for experimenting with new ideas

  • The fellowship puts disciplines into dialogue, which highlights both shared interests and unique contributions

  • The fellowship provides postdocs the opportunity to develop original courses, which extends their research interests into the classroom

  • The fellowship facilitates networking between postdocs and faculty, which leads to career-building opportunities

  • The fellowship prepares postdocs for a diverse working environment

The isolation of scholarly work can really weigh upon you a lot of the time. I think this is a place where you can come with ideas at any stage of development and say, “Is this anything? Does this make any sense to you?”

— Postdoctoral Fellow

Event Promotions

Organizing Information

Event posters in higher education often feature large quantities of text. It’s challenging not only to create a striking design, but also to convey information hierarchy. But careful use of fonts, text sizes, colors, and graphic elements can guide the reader’s eye.

Conveying Capacious Themes

Events in higher education typically explore themes or subjects from multiple angles and in nuanced ways in order to build dialogue among scholars. But how can a designer illustrate things that can’t readily be summarized?

The “Collaborative Public Workshop,” for example, had the broad theme of collaborative, interdisciplinary research. I considered how such research brough multiple methods to bear on a shared subject, and then I developed imagery suggesting overlapping maps and orbiting planets.

Drafting and Iterating

In designing a poster, I create multiple rough drafts, then share a selection with stakeholders so they can choose favorites or suggest alternative directions. This allows me to refine my approach quickly and then produce a finished design.

My rough drafts for the colloquium “Why Me?” involved individuals holding or looking into mirrors. Stakeholders appreciated the mirrors but wanted to avoid indicators of gender or race.

Iterating and Experimenting Over Time

Given that I publicize dozens of events every semester, there’s rarely time to share multiple rounds of drafts for any one poster project. But in working on posters over time, I refine and experiment with visual elements, information hierarchy, etc. This is especially true of posters for events in a recurring series, where I work with the same stakeholders.

Adapting Designs Across Platforms

Once the poster design for an event has been approved, I translate the design into other digital materials, each of which has unique technical specifications and user expectations.