Final Project--Alumni Trip Direct Mail

For my final project, I decided to create a high-quality direct mail piece advertising a theoretical PSU alumni trip to Europe. I had seen Emporia State University send out similar direct mail pieces, and I always found them very interesting. However, since I didn't have a limited budget on my project, I decided to do something a bit more elaborate than the other documents I had seen. I added a nifty die cut and some creative artwork to make the direct mail printed piece look like a postcard.

Thumbs/Demographics

The intention of this piece was to influence people to take the trip and be willing to spend the money to attend a PSU-sponsored trip, which would theoretically earn a bit of money for the university. The target audience for the project was very specific. Since most people aren't out of college and ready to travel until they are at least 25, the age range for this target audience was 25-65, and the education level of every participant would be at least a Bachelors degree, since the advertisement would go out only to PSU graduates.

Rough (Outside)

Rough (Inside)

Folding dummy

 


To mass produce this project, it would cost $0.48 to print, die cut and score each piece. Considering that the die is not a standard size, this price is very reasonable. To print 500 of these direct mail postcards, it would cost $240. This price includes 4 color printing, double sided printing, die cut and scoring. Pretty decent, I'd say!

Finished product! (Outside, Front)

The die cut is centered directly over a picture of Neuchwanstien castle in Germany. This makes it very interesting to print because the box that will be die cut in front has to line up exactly with the picture inside the printed piece. An extra issue is that the double-sided printing requires some calibration (image shift) to print accurately front-to-back.

Finished Product! (Inside)

Finished Product! (Outside, back)

Overall, this project was a wonderful learning experience. I learned the most about working with printers and how the elements I create in a design often, in turn, create problem-solving for them to do.