Is a Picture Worth 1,000 Students?

Choosing a Single Image to Best Represent Your Program
by Wayne Wilkins, marketing director, Rhode Island School of Design Continuing Education

One of the most difficult issues we grapple with constantly at Rhode Island School of Design is what image, or combination of images, to use on the cover of our catalog. In truth, “grapple” is probably too soft a word for the sometimes Herculean effort to come to consensus on an image and layout that best represents the program being promoted.

A multitude of questions arise with each direction we consider: Should we show student artwork? Or should we show students in a class or working in a studio? If so, which class? Which student(s)? Does one student or a small group of students in one class best represent the breadth of our student population? Will digital designers think that we only teach painting? Will teens think we’re a school for their parents and not them? You get the idea. It’s definitely a struggle, and everyone on the staff has a stake in it, but there are as many ideas as there are directions from which to choose.

How, then, can we move forward? The answer lies in understanding the bottom line when it comes to images and layouts, and to find the bottom line we have distilled the process down to one, albeit not simple, question: Does the cover make the prospective student want to turn the page and see what’s inside?

No matter what image you choose for your catalog, brochure, flyer, ad, e-mail header or any marketing piece for that matter, it must have only one goal – to engage prospective students and grab their attention long enough to at least move beyond the image to the meat of your marketing message. No one photo, or even a small group of images, can possibly represent the wide variety of disciplines and courses offered in your program.

But when you lead with an image that is not engaging, such as something passive, mundane, dull or “expected”, the viewer will subconsciously choose not to look at it. Your image selection will have actually led your prospective student to consciously move on from your marketing piece to something else that catches their eye. This is obviously not the goal you had in mind when you selected the image, and it doesn’t take a marketing genius to understand that such a result will not increase enrollment. So look for images that capture your attention, that demand your attention, and choose to avoid the temptation to represent everything your program offers in your lead image. That’s what the rest of your marketing piece is for! And that’s how a picture may very possibly be worth a thousand students.

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