DMD Diverse Perspectives Series

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What is Diverse Perspectives

Based on the inequities that have historically shaped digital media content, fields, and careers, the UConn Digital Media & Design department created the Diverse Perspectives Speaker Series. The series welcomes industry professionals, artists, and scholars from film, game, design, cultural and other sectors to discuss how issues of equity manifest in their work, creative processes, and professions. This series allows us to reflect on how our own practice can support greater equity, diversity, and inclusion.

The Objective

To drive awareness and engagement for a wide array of talented and diverse digital creators through a brand-new speaker series, hosted by the Digital Media and Design Department, in a fully virtual setting. In addition, to grow the overall DMD following across social with an emphasis on Youtube and Instagram. 

Target Audience

Primary Secondary
  • UConn Students
  • UConn Alumni
  • UConn professors and staff
  • current and future filmmakers
  • directors
  • people in the industry
  • potential students
  • University students on a larger scale
  • parents of students

 

Team

Jenny Pehota

Project manager, asset creator, GDE Liaison

Bridget Sweeney

Website planner, asset creator, logo designer

Caleb White

Asset Creator, logo designer

Destin Brown

Asset creator, logo designer

Social Assets and Organization

Social Media Graphics

Social Media Story Assets

Growth

YouTube Channel Growth

The UConn Digital Media & Design YouTube page has seen a 36% increase in subscriber growth since the start of the series, increasing from 154 to 209 subscribers.

75% of viewers displayed interest in the series long-term, but our viewership did not fully reflect that. We believe fewer events would retain this viewership.

The majority of views in this series were not live. In a semester of constantly living in accordance with a virtual schedule, this is not surprising. Viewers preferred to watch the series after it "aired"

 

 

 

 

Diverse Perspectives Student Testimonial

“During my time in the Diverse Perspectives class I had the pleasure of being a Student Moderator for Dr. Heidi Boisvert's presentation. Dr. Boisvert's work includes mapping the first media genome to analyze how our brains react to the media we are exposed to. Ultimately this research is made with the hope that we can use this technology to easily predict the type of media a user would be more likely to enjoy and engage with. I was nervous for the presentation, mainly because Dr. Boisvert had conducted a large Ted Talk with over a million views last year on the same subject so I felt I had a lot to live up to. Once I entered the Sound Check, my worries wisped away. Dr. Boisvert explained her work in media and technology and I got to ask her questions from our class. It was awesome when Dr. Boisvert said, "You made my day" when I expressed my gratitude for being able to meet and interview her. Diverse Perspectives was a perfect send off to my time at UConn. Being able to expose myself to engaging pieces of content created by individuals I don't directly relate with has molded me into a mature and multifaceted digital media analyst who's ecstatic to continue to explore the diverse world of media ahead of him.”

-Joseph Schiro (DMD 5th year)

Concluding Thoughts

How We met the Objective

  • Developed series strategy while adhering to a fully virtual setting
  • Created weekly assets for promotional usage across all UConn DMD accounts, while maintaining a fresh but cohesive look
  • Worked closely with Agency X and UConn SMACC to roll out assets and measure performance
  • Engaged audience through UConn DMD Instagram page promotionals for the event
  • Grew the UConn DMD YouTube page by a 33% increase in subscribers

Skills Used

  • Asset creation through Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Premiere
  • Communication
  • Organization
  • Time Management

What We Learned

  • Learned to operate in a fast-paced environment
  • Adapted to changing priorities
  • Advanced collaboration skills through working with internal team members, as well as through partnerships with Agency X, UConn SMACC, Good Deed Entertainment, and other organizations

Challenges

  • Creating assets with quick turnaround time
  • Last minute changes in lineups, times, headshot preferences, and bios
  • Some events were TBD
  • Having a middle-man communication style led to unnecessary confusion with deadlines, and delays in the asset generation process
  • Zoom burnout

What Worked

  • Partnerships with speakers and organization
  • Collaboration with Agency X
  • Switching off design responsibilities each week
  • Style guide & Color palette

What Didn't Work

  • Events every week
  • Quick turnaround times on approval-oriented assets
  • Final event overlapping with finals week

Moving Forward

  • Change speaker events to be on a biweekly or monthly basis
  • Leverage testimonials from people who took the Diverse Perspectives course in social posts
  • Use identified clips for future promotions
  • Post events in relevant Facebook groups
  • Assign the responsibility of creating assets to a group from a graphic design background, or make sure a students with a strong visual background is a part of the team
    • Could send out the opportunity through email to the DMD department as a whole
  • Build out time in advance for Agency X, UConn SMACC, and group members to meet and plan out marketing strategies and schedule

This entry was posted in 2021.