You’re standing on the edge of a thousand-foot drop. Wind rushes past you from below, not particularly forceful, but quick and cool. Somewhere behind you, an eagle lets out its call. You can just hear the faintest shhhh of a waterfall. In front of you, Yosemite Valley extends into infinity, a bed of forest and water pierced by bulky rock formations. It’s too beautiful to be real, but it is.
In the US, the national parks are linked with beauty, majesty, and power. They’ve become more than cordoned-off pastures and clusters of trees. In our urban age, they represent a utopic ideal where wonder roams free, the air cleans your lungs, and the environments are both novel and familiar. But what do these last bastions of the American landscape have to do with lifelong learning?
Well, that question has sparked a vibrant, eye-catching campaign that’s sure to put BYU Continuing Education into the spotlight in new ways. Let’s dig in.
Beginnings
Clint Payne, FlexGE Program Administrator, is always looking for new ways to spread awareness around lifelong learning. He is also an avid fan of the national parks. As he was brainstorming campaign ideas, something came to mind: the 1930s WPA posters. These posters, drawn to promote the national parks, have become a central part of the American psyche; their minimalistic style and bold colors continue to resonate with audiences, and they’ve been bringing the parks to life for nearly a century. It’s the platonic ideal of a campaign: one that still influences explorers today.
Recognizing a surge in the popularity of retro aesthetics, Clint wanted to pounce. “I thought, why don’t we make a sticker for FlexGE that has the feel of a national park poster?” he recalls. And so, picking out a few BYU landmarks, he sent the idea to the design team, and they understood the assignment. The stickers were a hit, kickstarting a campaign that would snowball in scope and impact.
The Artwork
The team got to work expanding the idea. In retrospect, it was a perfect fit: BYU Continuing Education is, in a sense, structured like the National Park Service. We help people chart diverse learning landscapes, prioritizing one-on-one guidance in a similar manner to park rangers.
“We got really excited. We could have a poster for each of our programs!” Clint says. “The Multimedia Services team started working on some ideas, and they brought a lot of energy to it.” As the ideas flowed, the team picked up momentum, and the campaign became more than the sum of its parts.
Mike Shamo, Associate Director of CE Classroom Programs, also got involved. Having worked with the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management himself, Mike understands the power of the imagery in question. He'd seen a recent “Parks After Dark” series of artwork and wanted to bring its unique visual style to BYU Continuing Education. “The Eyring Science Center was a perfect fit. One, we hold some science classes in the evening there; two, it’s got that observatory with the telescope pointed towards Y Mountain,” Mike says. The result is stunning.
The Campaign
With the art in hand, the team needed to find a way to get it out in the world. That’s where Nora Ballantyne, Strategic Marketing Account Manager, came into play. Leveraging her marketing expertise, Nora set out to develop a full 360 campaign, taking the idea from artwork to advertising.
“This campaign lends itself well to our work at Continuing Education. Just as the original posters served as a visual unifier across many diverse national park landscapes, our posters tie together the distinct lifelong learning journeys. There’s a unifying element among many diverse programs,” Nora says. “We are in the early stages of developing a meaningful campaign message. The process needs to be collaborative and intentional so that we can really use this messaging and imagery to address unmet needs of our audiences. Some core messaging ideas we’re discussing include Education with Elevation, Discover Your Learning Landscape, and Your Learning is on the Horizon.”
For Nora, the campaign is more than a fun way to drive top-of-funnel awareness. “This campaign connects the beauty of the parks with the eternal benefits of learning and growth,” she says. “These posters reflect an undercurrent of movement, progress, development, and beauty, which strongly aligns with CE’s mission and values.”
Lifelong learning truly is a journey through diverse, beautiful landscapes. As we endeavor to learn, we push ever forward into uncharted territory. We can’t know the result before we expend the effort; the only way to see the view is by hiking to the top of the mountain. From there, we can look out over our learning landscape and realize just how valuable the journey was.
Yes, these posters are more than a campaign. They represent BYU Continuing Education: movement, progress, development, and beauty, indeed.
