Role: Editor-in-chief (project), Senior Content Creator
Timeframe: May 2019—February 2020
Brief: Bring the annual alumni publication in line with recent brand upgrades, instil pride amongst Hult alumni, and encourage engagement with ongoing school events.
Solution: Hult Alumni Magazine 2020
Background: Hult Alumni Magazine had, in previous years, been the responsibility of the Career Development and Alumni Relations team. For 2020 the publication was brought under the remit of the creative department, whose recent and award-winning rebrand and editorial shift had placed a modern authenticity front and centre. For comparison, previous alumni magazine iterations had been weighty, both literally and figuratively; a one-way narrative between school and recipient, delivering information with little demonstrative engagement.
We started from scratch, stripping out heritage and roll-over pieces that no longer served a purpose. Looking to contemporary references (Monocle, Wired) the teams collectively settled on an editorial concept—The Future of Work—as a topical unifier for the piece. Drawing on the wider team we sourced names of influential and inspiring alumni to interview, whilst exploring new and diversified formats for the content with our freelance design partner for the project, Studio Wan.
I interviewed around 40 alumni, in a diverse array of fields: fintech, healthcare data science, life coaching, social entrepreneurship, climate change advocacy, and more. The hours of audio were distilled into 76 pages of features, taking shape as Q&As, first-person narratives, advice columns, and photo stories.
The print edition came off the press in early January, followed by the digital upload and surrounding social campaign. The magazine has been used extensively by sales, marketing and the wider business as a key recruitment and retention tool for the 2020 academic year.