Pathway Park College Journey Map

Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF) had been utilizing what they called the "College Roadmap" as a communication tool for a number of years. When I started as creative lead at the organization, one of my goals was to not only update, but rethink and improve this tool for future generations of students.

Once trust had been built within the organization, I created a project roadmap beginning with a focus group to analyze the previous design. This produced valuable feedback, as well as a sense of ownership of the redesign process for all involved.

From there, I experimented with a wide array of layouts, elements, and design styles, wanting to go beyond a basic update. I settled on an isometric illustration style to create an imaginative, "game board" feel that could help students visualize themselves on the pathway.

A second focus group gave overwhelmingly positive feedback on the new structure of the visual. From there, it was time to get detailed. I worked with a mix of stock vector buildings and custom illustrations, wanting the buildings to be recognizable for each high school where the map would be displayed. I created custom actions in Illustrator to properly align each pathway to my isometric grid, and learned the ins and outs of isometric vector illustration to refine buildings and objects.

Lastly, I made sure there were interactive resources available – links to all of DSF's most used resources, including scholarship applications and college and career resources.

I helped coordinate printing and installation of these custom maps in 15 high schools and the DSF office, and launched the new design to staff. Beyond creating a compelling visual to serve as a backdrop to our day-to-day work, Pathway Park has become a vital tool to understand what DSF does, and that their support extends from high school, across all college pathways, into career.