Campus Illustration for Tufts University

by Nate Padavick

Client

Tufts University
Somerville, Massachusetts

Art Directors

Lina Kong, Senior Designer, Hecht/Horton Partners

Creative Brief

Tufts University commissioned Nate Padavick to create a cover design and over 30 spot illustrations for Tufts University's "Insider's Guide." The artwork needed to fun, expressive, and visually stimulating.

Project Goals

The goal of this project was to familiarize the reader with the campus amenities. The guide contains over 30 spot illustrations depicting such things as food halls, student centers, lawns, and sports, as well as a handful of editorial illustrations, conveying details about programs and departments.

Project Realization

The project manifested into a 20-page guide sent to all incoming admitted students.

Creative Process

Because of all the various content, parts, and pieces that encompassed this project, it was very important for Nate to work closely with the art director to define the scope of work, set a schedule, and organized reviews and deliverables. The creative work was accomplished in the early sketch phases, which also included color palette options. It was important to define an illustration style that could carry through the guide and visually bind all the content together. Frequent checkpoints and reviews ensured that the client was informed and involved during the project and satisfied at the end of the project.

Materials

This map was created in Adobe Illustrator by Nate Padavick, using vector brushes and his hand-drawn font. AI was not used in the creation of this illustration.

Additional Images

A spread from the guide with spot illustrations of a laptop, pizza, a historic church, and a flying tennis ball.

A spread from the guide with spot illustrations of the university mascot and a student on a hoverboard.

A sketch of the cover illustration

A selection of spot illustrations