SFU Graduate Studies
During my co-op at SFU Graduate Studies as a Communications & Marketing Associate, I worked across digital and print — from restructuring 50+ web pages in AEM to designing orientation materials for 400+ incoming students. Every deliverable had a real audience: faculty, staff, and graduate students across SFU's three campuses.
I updated and maintained administrative documents across Graduate Studies — converting non-fillable files to interactive PDFs in InDesign and revising content based on requests from other teams, all within SFU's brand guidelines.
I updated and restructured over 50 web pages in AEM, particularly during the rebranding from "Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies" to "Graduate Studies." This included full layout revisions for the Indigenous Graduate Students page and the 3MT (Three Minute Thesis) event page, improving readability and information flow.
I designed promotional banners for award pages and landing banners for key content areas. I also updated the welcome email sent to over 1,000 new students, including custom artwork for each SFU campus and acknowledgment of Indigenous territories.
News Thumbnail: Edited thumbnails to ensure all award recipients were clearly visible.
Welcome Email: Extended layout width for improved readability. Header image features key elements from SFU's three campuses and acknowledges their respective Indigenous territories.
To streamline the process of publishing graduate student profiles, I updated an internal HTML-based tool and documented the workflow for future team members. The updated tool enabled us to quickly generate over 100 student profile web pages. I also proposed and designed a standardized photo background to improve visual consistency across profiles.
I edited a series of informational and promotional videos in Adobe Premiere — including a 3-step "How to Apply" tutorial (GoGrad) and post-event recaps for the 2024 3MT competition. All videos were edited to align with SFU's brand guidelines, including captioning and visual consistency.
Watch GoGrad Video ↗ Watch 2024 3MT ↗
I supported the Indigenous Initiatives team by redesigning a poster and conference program for an internal event. I also designed name tags and program brochures for Fall 2024 Orientation, attended by over 400 new students.
Program Document: Designed in Adobe InDesign with a clean, readable layout that visually complements the poster.
Name Tags & Booklet: Designed for 400+ students and staff. Orientation schedule folded for easy offline use.
This co-op showed me that design in an institutional setting is less about aesthetics and more about reducing friction — for the student filling out a form, the staff updating a web page, or the new arrival reading a welcome email. That shift in perspective — from 'does this look good?' to 'does this actually help someone?' — is something I carry into every project now.