Engaging Alumni
Well-Read Magazines
With a dozen distinctive majors, Cornell’s College of Engineering faced a challenge trying to speak with one voice to alumni. And the quarterly college magazine was not helping much, often running articles of narrow interest. We noted that half the grads were not even engineers. They were in law, medicine, business, and other fields. So we worked to retool the magazine’s content and update its design and used a reader survey to inform further changes. The result? An engaging, informative periodical featuring students, alumni, and faculty that reads more like Geo than the old technically oriented journal. The concept—making the college magazine something alumni want to read—is just as applicable in liberal arts environments such as Colby and Reed. We worked to improve general interest quarterlies there, too, starting with the premise that every article, essay, class note, and campus update can be made interesting to most alumni.
See how each publication has evolved:
Cornell Engineering
Colby Magazine
Reed Magazine