James Barrow @jamesgbarrow - Tumblr Blog

Macquarie University Arts Precinct video wall

Macquarie University Arts Precinct is designed to elevate the Faculty of Arts diverse strengths and enrich its collaborative and creative work into the future for both students and staff. The objective of this video was to create a large-format video experience to fill the enormous intercultural foyer screen measuring 4 x 11 meters. Showcasing and celebrating the broad and diverse specialisations and research focus areas within the arts precinct, and in doing so, capturing the innovative spirit of the great minds that work and study within it.

Powered by Experience The follow up campaign to the Macquarie University (YOU)us campaign we launched in 2018, which highlighted Macquarie’s innovation proof points through its research impact and, in particular, how the collective power of business, research and academia can solve real world problems.

Guided by market research and previous learnings, the campaign was refreshed in August 2020, launching with a focus on employability and future readiness. We ran the campaign in out-of-home, cinema, print, digital media and social channels. Key to the campaign is targeting specific geographical areas, with success measured through the campaign’s impact on awareness, consideration and recommendation scores (ACR) and increased leads and student enrolments.

The recruitment campaign promoted 14 priority areas of study including pathways and selected post graduate courses across digital channels, generating leads into more than 100 degrees through dedicated webpages. Our lead nurture program reinforced Macquarie’s position as the right choice for those who had already applied to Macquarie increasing consideration among those whose ATAR required them to revisit their application decision.

Gem Global Experience Macquarie

At Macquarie, more than 500 people can edit our website. In the past this has led to inconsistency between pages, made the site hard to manage and slow to load.

GEM – Global Experience Macquarie – is a design system that harmonises the work of the university’s many web collaborators.

It provides tools and templates – or Gemplates - that simplify the process of designing, building and editing our website, and gives users a distinctively Macquarie experience whatever page they visit.

GEM makes it easy to provide relevant information in an organised consistent page hierarchy.

We have defined system rules to help provide a consistent look and feel and tone of voice that strengthen our brand and contributes to a more satisfying, intuitive user experience.

S‍ome examples of completed pages below: ‍https://www.mq.edu.au/faculty-of-arts

https://www.mq.edu.au/study/you-to-the-power-of-us

Disover GEM for yourself at gem.mq.edu.au

Macquarie University Campus showcase video Campus tours are a strategic component of our future students recruitment strategy. Given covid-19 restrictions this campus tour footage is used as an alternative method for prospective students to explore the campus, along with future students presentations to schools, online events and Open Day.

Walk with good spirit.

The Yanama budyari gumada' walk with good spirit' research collective is based on Darug Country, at Yellomundee Regional Park, Western Sydney. Led by Indigenous Darug custodian Uncle Lexodious Dadd, and involving NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service, researchers and students from Newcastle and Macquarie universities.

The Darug Caring-as-Country project aims to rekindle Indigenous Caring-as-Country' mechanisms on national parks estate and have facilitated 17 Darug cultural camps between 2016-2019, enabling 450+ people to enhance environmental stewardship of Yellomundee by connecting deeply with Darug Country, culture, knowledge and language.

My team and I were honoured to support the creation and production of this video to support the research submission into the International Green Gown Awards, which acknowledges exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken by the world's universities delivering on the UN Global Sustainability Goals. Open to any university or college worldwide; these awards are supported by the United Nations Environment Program and administered by the EAUC - Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education.

Walk with Good spirit initiative won Gold at the Australian UN Green Gown Awards in 2019 and was a finalist at the UN International Green Gown Awards in 2020.

(YOU) to the power of us brand campaign launch.

At Macquarie, we’ve discovered the human equation for success. By knocking down the walls between departments, and uniting industry powerhouses, human collaboration flourishes. This is the exponential power of our collective, where potential is multiplied by a campus and curriculum designed to foster collaboration for the benefit of everyone. Because we believe when we all work together, we multiply our ability to achieve remarkable things.

Macquarie University – Doctor of Medicine

This is a video that I wrote and co-directed as part of a broader Macquarie University Doctor of Medicine launch campaign.

The Macquarie University Doctor of Medicine (Macquarie MD) is a new program embedded within an established University that has a culture of transformative learning, and within MQ Health – an academic health sciences centre that integrates patient-centred clinical care, teaching and research.

Essential Gear – Hearing Awareness Week Hearing health awareness amongst young adults is low, and there’s a misconception that hearing loss is caused by ageing when it’s actually due to excessive accumulative noise associated with listening to loud music. With the help of some of Australia’s leading musicians, we created a series of gear review videos showcasing the essential gear used in making their tunes, while building awareness of hearing health in a new generation of music lovers.

Hearing Awareness Week – Essential Gear gig posters A series of gig posters designed to educate young concert goers on hearing health. The campaign was developed to support a broader Hearing Awareness Week initiative between Macquarie University and the Australian Hearing Hub. Illustrators: The Jacky Winter Group Creative Director/Marketing Director: James G Barrow Copywriter: Rachel Sullivan/James G Barrow

Macquarie Minds Showcase Event concept, design and promotion

What if collective intelligence is vital to a brighter future? The Macquarie Minds Showcase, brings together a compelling group of visionaries, researchers and experts across diverse fields, in a two-day event showcasing the power of research that transcends traditional academic boundaries to shape a more positive future.

By providing our world-leading academics with a platform to showcase their research and teaching expertise, Macquarie Minds highlights the University’s key strategic priorities and commitment to providing a culture of transformative learning in a research-enriched environment.

We developed a New Yorker style visual approach and adopted an authoritative yet provocative tone of voice to theme the showcase, generating interest along long with a strong call to action to register. The showcase was promoted via social, EDMs, OOH, digital, along with internal and owned channels.

Illustrator: Jacky Winter Group, Ben Sanders Creative/Marketing Director: James Gali Barrow Designer: Danielle Latucca Copywriter: Rachel Sullivan

Macquarie University Incubator

The Macquarie University Incubator is a new space for students, researchers, staff, small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs), entrepreneurs and startups, who are working on research or an idea that can be commercialised.

The building was designed by Architectus, with the brand identity, brand strategy, signage, experience design, website, events and marketing, created by Macquarie University Group Marketing team.

The Incubator building has been shortlisted for international recognition in Amsterdam at the prestigious World Architecture Festival (28-30 November) in the Higher Education and Research category. With 12 awards under its belt since being officially opened by HRH Prince Andrew Duke of York in 2017.

Macquarie University is committed to being a campus where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is respected and celebrated, forming an integral part of our University’s learning, teaching, research and community engagement. Macquarie University acknowledges the value and wisdom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and recognises reconciliation is a mutual process that all staff and students can participate in, to ensure our campus is culturally inclusive and respectful.

My team in the Brand, content and creative department at Macquarie University have the great honour of creating marketing, content and communications to support the incredibly important work of Macquarie University’s indigenous community, our indigenous elders and the various Macquarie University Indigenous Strategies.

To learn more about Macquarie University’s indigenous strategy visit https://www.mq.edu.au/about/about-the-university/our-commitment-to-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples

Macquarie University – Explainer videos

Macquarie University communicates to over 40,000 current students and millions of potential students globally every year. Having to explain complex, course related content is a challenge. Video is a very engaging and effective way of doing this. We partnered with animation studio, Hank Mango, to develop a creative approach and style for all internally marketed, explainer videos, combining a simple infographic style and conversational tone of voice, we break down complex topics, into bite-sized, digestible content.

Future Ready Toolkit Student Acceptance Offer campaign

Problem Every year students are bombarded with letters of offer from universities across Australia. Our challenge was to create something that would cut through the clutter, be memorable and elicit an acceptance response. It also had to align with Macquarie University’s Future Ready campaign platform, a promise of degrees that prepare graduates for the careers of the future.

Solution We created the Future Ready Toolkit, containing a variety of imaginary tools students may use in careers that don’t yet exist. Each tool represented an area of study and was designed to inspire and engage students in a playful way while reinforcing the message that with a degree from Macquarie they’ll be prepared for whatever the future holds.

Postcards of the various tools contained a ‘Did you know?’ message on the flipside that related both to the imaginary tool and the importance of developing particular skills such as communication, empathy and resilience or to the expected growth of sectors like healthcare. These messages helped anchor the playful aspect of the campaign in the real world and further reinforced key messages. The campaign was supported by EDMs, social media and outdoor. The tools were 3D printed and displayed in an installation during Info Day to showcase the campus facilities.

The Chi Wah Robotic Innovation Centre, China. Brand experience design

Establishing a relationship between the science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) innovators of tomorrow is just one benefit of the new Macquarie University Robotic Centre. Supported by the Chi Wah Foundation, the multi-million-dollar robotics centre is being built in China’s Fuzhou Province thanks to a generous donation from Chinese businessman Dr Colin Lam.

It will be a place for children from Chinese provinces who generally don’t have access to state-of-the-art technology to learn about robotic design and construction, and ultimately manufacture and test their own robots.

Endowments such as Dr Lam’s work towards inspiring the next generation of visionaries, with the new centre opening its facilities to a different school every week. Children will build competition-standard robots, with participating schools duelling in a robotics competition that will see the winners competing at national and international contests.

Curriculum, administrative and technical support will be provided by Macquarie University. Exceptional students from China will be invited to travel to Australia, and Australian students to China, to share, learn, create and inspire their peers.

Students who demonstrate excellence in engineering will gain preferential access to apply for Macquarie University undergraduate programs in the Faculty of Science and Engineering – providing an opportunity that could change a life. Donations such as Dr Lam’s open doors for children to thrive, and potentially become leaders in the STEM field. Hopefully the success and sustainability of this project will set the scale and pace of subsequent expansion into other provinces.

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