Engaging through Colloquy

To communicate effectively, an alumni magazine must reflect the interests and ideals of its community. When that community is broad in both geography and background, that challenge must be met with a thoughtful and intentioned approach.

Colloquy is published by the Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). To help the magazine be more compelling and to better connect with graduate alumni, GSAS worked with 2communiqué on its redesign. The word colloquy means “a conversational exchange,” and the creative process, from structure and nomenclature to design and art direction, was developed in the spirit of conversation.

We began with an in-depth critique and plan. Through our intake, we learned that the GSAS community is curious about and engaged in a range of topics beyond their studies. Scientists want to read about art; filmmakers want to learn about bioscience, etc. This insight inspired the direction for the interior pages, creating a two-dimensional space full of curious people and interesting topics.

To support the magazine’s storytelling theme, candid portrait photography gives the reader the feeling of being in the same space with the subject. Provocative and whimsical illustrations complement the photo-rich magazine, allowing for more complex stories to be told visually. And the new nomenclature builds on conversational language like “greeting,” “discourse,” and “conversation.”

The end result for the print magazine is a two-dimensional space that mimics a real-world conversation; but it is hard to create a conversation in a biannual print magazine.

To further build on the connections with the GSAS community, we worked with the communication team to re-envision the school’s news website, which included Colloquy. The final designs work within the GSAS CMS but allow for a much more editorial approach with the content.

A review of the user experience helped us to better organize the content on the site, creating a more intuitive flow and accessibility. With clear organization of content, our explored a print-to-digital translation of Colloquy. Format, typography, and white space were explored and translated into a scrolling page.