VFS Viewbook

Vancouver Film School produced a viewbook every few years to promote & tempt new students into the fold. This initiative needed to function in print, interactive & social media and ‘sell’ all departments in the school.

Previous campaigns from VFS promoted ‘do what you love’ and after several brainstorming sessions we looked into pushing this metaphor further; connecting a sense of urgency to the underlying message.

We had collectively written several statements around the cadence of a year “1 year, 0 regrets”, “a year to explore you”, “your year”… and the idea of a manifesto was born.

While assisting in the development of the manifesto concept, my focus was on interactive so I looked into where that could go.

Analytics showed that 84% of users viewed vfs.com on a desktop (1366px+)—distinctly ahead of the general population.

There was some symmetry with data from admissions showing that 1/4 students were previously employed (many in offices) while 2/4 were from privileged backgrounds and probably used the latest tech.

I set about creating an adaptive experience that would serve over 90% of desktops and offer a simplified mobile view (.mob) for remaining viewers. This would allow the interactive part of the campaign to really engage core users.

VFS students were ahead of the curve with tech & screen size when compared to the general population.

Some early designs showed promise and also hinted at a highly graphical output.

I opted to include video as part of the interactive venture, working with a videographer to incorporate and connect branding with the site.

During an exercise This manifesto celebrates the spirit of intensity and camaraderie in the trenches at Vancouver Film School.

Our answer was to craft a manifesto that celebrates the things that bind that disparate student body together: intensity, sacrifice, and a certain go-for-broke work ethic you seldom see in post-secondary education.

One of the biggest challenges in communicating a brand like Vancouver Film School is its diversity. You have to find a way to speak to everyone from actors and makeup artists to computer animators and technical designers.