Central State University, established as an 1890 land-grant institution, prepares students with diverse backgrounds and experiences for leadership, research, and service. The local university fosters academic excellence for all students within a nurturing environment; they provide a strong liberal arts foundation preparing students for professional careers and advanced studies.

With a unique history in the Dayton region, Central State University aspires to be a premier institution of excellence that embraces diversity and produces graduates with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to make valuable contributions in a global society. In 2014, the board and administration developed a Strategic Plan designed to address challenges related to course completion, retention rate, and graduation rate.

Within this plan contained two key objectives that required the help of Wilderness Agency:

1. Targeted student enrollment
2. Efficient and effective institutional operations

Through strategic marketing, public relations, and design assistance, Wilderness helped to elevate the reputation of Central State in southern Ohio as a forward-thinking, accepting university with the knowledge and experience to help students reach their goals.

Refreshing Piece by Piece

Central State University

Refreshing an existing brand can be more than giving visual aspects a facelift. A brand refresh is reinvigorating the messaging, modernizing the graphics, and catching the eye of new audiences. Central State chose to refresh a variety of materials including a new landing page, an outreach magazine, print marketing materials, and press releases.

The Central State University landing page and the print marketing materials utilized the tagline: “This is CSYou.” To attract new promising students, thereby growing their class numbers and garnering additional support, Central State required dynamic design and relatable, inspiring language.

This refreshed look was taken to the next level with a magazine spread in CSU’s Centralian Plus, presenting engaging feature stories from alumni, faculty, and current students. By highlighting the achievements made through CSU, Wilderness helped the university build further trust and reputation throughout the region.