The Ladder: Infrequent Intelligence from the NCSDO Staff
Subscribe to the LadderAnother Gem on Broadway
Click to view photographs
We just returned from NYC, where we were treated to a tour of Barnard College's shiny new Diana Center. It is a remarkable success on so many levels: exterior colors that blend beautifully with the College's brick and stone, comfortable common areas, superb natural light throughout all six floors (no small feat in the City), and a lovely grass-covered rooftop to cap the LEED-Silver structure. Diana is an elegantly understated addition to upper Broadway, where deference to the vernacular has been in short supply of late.
Along the tour, we came upon a heretofore impossible perspective on Barnard's stately Milbank Hall. We've included a quick iPhone shot in the carousel, but our photographers and videographers will set the bar much higher. Talk about a money shot.
Posted by Clifford Lull on Wed, 12 May 2010 08:42:27 -0400 | Permalink
Four-peat
Click to view client award winners
For the fourth consecutive year, NCSDO clients have earned Best in Show in the Admissions Advertising Awards competition.
This year, the distinction goes to two clients—Stanford University, for its student recruitment program; and the University of Chicago, for Chicago Life, A User's Guide for Students. NCSDO is the nation's only firm with two clients on the list.
Posted by Clifford Lull on Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:42:17 -0400 | Permalink
Hail, alma mater! (sotto voce)
Perhaps it's time for the advancement profession to take a cue from the pundits: communicate some optimism, for Pete's sake. To which we'll add: and play some good music.
Campaign launches in candlelit ballrooms outfitted with 50-foot-wide projection screens are on hiatus. In their day, as the lights were dimmed and quiet filled the room, sweeping treetop campus views, shot from rented helicopters, appeared on the screens. The fav musical score? The alma mater, of course, sung by college choruses. Pride swelled. Tears welled.
But recently we've detected an ever-so-slight campaign trend. Along with humbler, more cost-conscience surroundings, there's a next wave of scoring-a little more serious, a little more pensive. Busby Berkeley has given way to Ken Burns.
The new austerity is a proper response, but when is enough enough? Should school spirit really fall victim to the times? 
Could this be a moment for—we'll say it—something . . . uplifting? Something . . . stirring? Something like a Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians rendition of the alma mater?
Waring, who passed away in 1984, was known as "The Man Who Taught America to Sing." He sold millions of records in the 1930s and '40s (during some pretty tough times) and his College Memories album includes ready-made soundtracks for Michigan, Amherst, Penn State, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, among others.
Bing Crosby even stands in with the band on a version of the Whiffenpoof Song, just in case anyone in New Haven is thinking kickoff.
And since the golden rule of fund-raising communications is "look like you know how to spend money wisely," scratchy vinyl seems as old school and relevant as ever. Maybe it's just a matter of dialing down the volume a digit or two.
Posted by Clifford Lull on Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:17:58 -0500 | Permalink
Flying horses
Stationery, web headers, campus vehicles, signs. These are applications that spring to mind when we map out visual identity style guides.
And so we braced when we learned recently of Horizon Airlines' plans to celebrate its 25th year of service to the city of Boise by marking a Bombardier Q400 with the Boise State athletic identity that we worked on with The Joe Bosack Graphic Design Company.
Turns out that Horizon did a fine job, flying as it did without NCSDO instructions on the matter. We simply never thought to include them.
Moving forward, and just to be safe, we are adding "modes of aviation" to our standards-development checklist.
(Since adopting the new design in 2002, the Broncos have appeared in the Humanitarian, Fort Worth, MPC Computers, Hawai'i, and Poinsettia bowls—not to mention their stunning defeat of Oklahoma in the 2006 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. Just saying . . . )
Posted by Clifford Lull on Wed, 11 Feb 2009 07:01:51 -0500 | Permalink
If you don't read this blog...
Before alerting the SPCA, please know that Typo remains unharmed. The threat is disingenuous; but what other content could compete with this single dramatic image to bring visitors to the Ladder?
By the way, if harming a defenseless (albeit steely eyed and imaginary) dog to jolt a readership seems a familiar tactic, then you are likely remembering a 1973 edition of National Lampoon. The black-and-white dog made for an easy connection.
But back to worthwhile content . . . and blogs. Others do a fine job dispensing wisdom about higher education, communications, design, food, sports—the stuff that interests us. And then there are the professional listserves, where the idea of information doubling every 10 years is already obsolete.
We made attempts.
We ended up with the dog.
From time to time, we will find ways to salt this blog with thoughts on those topics. Mostly, however, we'll try to keep this area like Typo—a little off balance but, we hope, entertaining and more or less relevant for those likely to stumble upon the site.
But for now, there's a dog that demands an apology . . .
Posted by Clifford Lull on Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:30:35 -0500 | Permalink