USF Housing Magazine
Grounded in aesthetic research and behavioral insight, this USF Housing Magazine Mailer Campaign positions on campus living as the most direct next step for admitted students. The work prioritizes clarity and strategic intent, supporting occupancy targets and protecting residential revenue. This mailer campaign translates that strategy into something tangible. From concept through production, each element is structured to drive action and measurable engagement.
Live the Bull's Life
To "Live the Bull’s Life” is to live on campus. It frames campus housing as the full student experience and supports our mission to position it as the default choice for admitted students. The campaign extends beyond messaging, equipping students with tangible pieces that let them carry and express that identity themselves.
Aesthetic Research
This campaign was mailed domestically in the US to high school juniors and seniors who were admitted to the University. These students are between the ages of 16 - 18, we must design according to their tastes.
My research began at surface level. Quick google searches, trending Pinterest posts, blogs, things of that nature. This generation has a lot of design aesthetics to choose from. The tough part is to find a modern design trend which would work well with USF’s branding. Narrowing it down, these are my observations that I chose to work with.:
Bold Minimalism - Gen Z values minimalism with white space, restraint, with bold and obvious hierarchy so the object carries the meaning.
Anti-Design - Gen Z distrusts overly-polished design. It is a direct rebellion to the performative and professional mask of previous generations. They want informality, unrobotic, and a human touch. Rough textures, collages, imperfect alignment, these are a human touch to signal a human fingerprint.
The Merger - Minimalism and Anti-design are not contradictions. Minimalism is about a reduction of cognitive load. Anti-Design is about rejection of professional performativity. These two elements are interesting to Gen Z. USF’s Athletics department leans into the anti-design trend.
USF Athletics follows this anti-design trend while adhering to USF’s brand standards. I kept this in the back of my mind while designing. However, I choose to lean more deeper into the institutional formality compared to Athletics. With my visual aesthetic decided, here are some sample pages of what I came up with.:
“Highly refined visual presentations were perceived as less trustworthy by younger audiences, who associated excessive polish with persuasive intent rather than informational intent.” (SUIC 2020 Proceedings)
Paper textures are leading this movement — one of the most searched ‘graphics’ terms on Envato, with over 3.6K searches in the past two months, and 67% of those resulting in downloads. Designers are clearly seeking ways to bring natural tactility and human warmth into their digital work. (Graphic Design Junction)
Participants showed higher trust when the structure of the message was immediately visible and easy to pars. (Fogarty, Rewired)
Purchasing & Procurement
USF has awarded contracts for Marketing and Promotional items under 2023-070-ITN-PRO. When purchasing from one of these contracted vendors, no bid process is needed.
I recognize that choosing an existing awarded supplier would have saved effort on my end. However, awarded suppliers are often substantially more expensive. By investing extra due diligence, I negotiated a cost reduction by approximately $18,000 (a little of 30% cost difference in bids).
Winning Vendor: $38,532
USF’s Awarded Suppliers: $56,787.52
Savings: $18,255.52
The Impact
Updated March 26
This mailer campaign so far reached roughly a little over 28,000 admitted students and generated measurable engagement. Measuring this engagement was through observing QR code scans to our website.
QR code scans:
360 sessions
1.89% response rate
Engagement Quality:
~94s average engagement time
2,889 total events
8.02 events per visitor
Interpretation:
Recipients who scanned these QR codes averaged just over 8 interactions per visitor. These users who scanned were actively perusing housing options, not passively browsing. This engagement behavior aligns with the mailer acting as a consideration and decision-reinforcement touchpoint as intended.
Housing applications increased in correlation to mail drop windows. While exact statistics cannot be disclosed, the timing suggests the mailer contributed to a measurable lift in application activity after recipients received their mailer.
Come Back Soon!
This campaign is currently running through the months of January - May 2026. These analytics will be updated through the run.
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