Continuing Education Bus Ad

Upward mobility meets mass transit

The Context

The University of Washington created an ad for its Continuing Education Certificate Programs to appear on Seattle’s city buses. Their version used a lot of words to say very little, with an undefined audience and no call to action. Buses are usually on the move, as are many of the people who read the billboards on them, so a rework of the ad required concise copy, strong visuals, and enough impact that readers would follow up with the product later.

The Work

The story the University wanted to tell was complex, but the medium required that story be distilled into eight words or less. I created a key message for a series of concepts: adults who are unhappy with their jobs should sign up for UW Continuing Ed Certificate Programs because they can get better jobs. My concepts relied on a simple visual and minimal copy, paired with a vanity URL to simplify online navigation after the fact.

Original version

My rewrite