University of Houston Dynamic Print Post Card

Design Concept

   The goal that we wanted to achieve in the design of the postcard was to give prospective students a glimpse into the career paths that the College of Technology programs can create and influence. In the process, we included several different pictures that correspond with the various majors, showing people at work in the respective fields. The background image that is featured in the front and back of the postcard represents the global impact that technology has on our society. In the top right corner, we incorporate multi-colored graphical elements that symbolize wires, pertaining to the technological aspects of each program within the college. The design will relay the message to students that enrolling into the College of Technology at the University of Houston will provide the required tools and knowledge that will result in success in any industry in the business world after graduation. 

 

Production

   The postcard follows the dimensions of 4.25” x 6” with a bleed of 0.125”. We performed the editing of each image in Adobe Photoshop, then placed the edited image into Adobe InDesign. This was done to save processing time. The graphics used were done by our designer and our photographs are all either stock photos or taken by a member of our group. We primarily used Unsplash for our images but the photograph of the college of technology building was done by Justin Menard. The standards of the United States Postal service were looked over thoroughly to ensure our project complies with the legal requirements. We also made use of the DIGM 3351’s Basic Preflight panel and went through each record to make sure no error occurred. 

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Technical

   Or team used XMPie UCreate print to turn a static InDesign document into a variable document. The data for this came from a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet database. This document contained valuable information like mailing address, zip code, desired major, race and ethnicity. Using this we would change the central image and text on the postcard to match the users’ interests. The graphic elements in the design were composed and varied based on the recipient’s field of industry. For example, a digital media interested person would receive a related Digital Media image. We also use their unique address as the shipping address on each of these postcards. This is how we personalized every postcard. we also included a unique QR code to further drive interest in the University of Houston.