SAE University Programs
Helping a Higher Education Brand Tell the Story Its Photography Wasn't Capturing
Picture hundreds of the world's top engineering students, working around the clock for months, preparing for a series of rigorous technical competitions.
SAE University Programs had gigabytes of photography and video from its engineering competitions. What it didn't have was content that made prospective students want to compete or gave sponsors something worth pointing to. The events were extraordinary. The photography wasn't showing that.
Post-COVID, growing participation made closing that gap more urgent. Deep Varnish was brought in to develop a visual standard that could do it consistently, across every event, regardless of who was behind the camera.
Services provided:
Creative Direction
Storytelling Strategy
Visual Guideline Development
What the Existing Content Was Missing
We started by going through the existing photography and video to understand what was and wasn't working. The volume was there. What was missing was intention. Shots captured what happened at the events but not what it felt like to be there, which is what gets a prospective student excited to compete and gives a sponsor a reason to stay involved.
University teams were already producing strong content on their own channels. We pulled the best of it, identified what those images had in common, and used that as the foundation for the visual guidelines.
Building a Standard That Could Travel
Working with the University Programs and internal marketing team, we developed specific visual guidelines covering composition, subject framing, and what to prioritize when there is a lot happening at once. The goal was a standard that any photographer at any event could follow and produce content that felt consistent with the best work already being done.
The guidelines gave the organization something it hadn't had before: a repeatable way to capture what makes these competitions worth attending, and worth sponsoring.
“Shawn’s ability to pull out a brand’s story is unmatched. SAE’s University Programs creative direction is just one example of how he’s transformed how we show the thrill of attending one of these events through incredible visual storytelling. Handed the broken pieces and half-baked projects large organizations often struggle with, Shawn was able to work beyond the organizational challenges and helped us focus on how to improve the end product one piece at a time. With these changes, we’ve seen a huge improvement in University Programs’ digital engagement, and more confident pitching for sponsors to support our efforts.”