The California College of the Arts (CCA) is one of the most diverse art schools in the nation—both in its curricular offerings and student body—and the viewbook design forwards both facets, giving the potential applicant an intimate view of the current CCA experience. Volume helped CCA shape the core content of the viewbook to better capture the idiosyncratic details of CCA and each of the students that are profiled within. The formal design visualizes CCA’s eclecticism through a combination of the physical format, using a broad range of imagery, and a mix of typography that is both informative and expressive.
Selling a school of art (that matters).
We also designed a more compact takeaway brochure for CCA that they could distribute en masse at recruiting events, while using the viewbook as the follow-up material for potential applicants who showed a concerted interest in the school.
CCA is informed greatly by its Bay Area location and is a microcosm of the inventive and activist strains that the area is famous for. To attract new graduate students, the viewbook intertwines these strains under the banner of “Radical,” showcasing both CCA’s strong philosophical stance and the formidable work the graduate program has produced.
It’s small format befits a viewbook conceived as a mini-manifesto, with a reflective cover that nudges potential students to imagine themselves as part of CCA’s radical learning environment. But it serves a functional purpose, too, as the book is small enough to fit in one’s back pocket for easy keeping and transit. And amidst the often gaudy and excessive deluge of materials pitched at potential art students, it stands out as a terse, straight-to-the-point antidote.
