Vertically Integrated Projects: Digital Media Intellect & IDM @ NYU Tandon
Designing cross-platform campaigns and visual identity for NYU’s Integrated Design & Media department.
Discipline — Graphic Design, Brand Identity, Social Media
Timeline — September 2024 - May 2025 (9 Months)
Tools — Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Procreate
Team — Anne-Marie Prekezes (Graphic Designer), Kashvi Gupta (Strategy Analyst), Waleed Panjwani (Project Manager)
Overview
From 2024 to 2025, I was selected for NYU’s Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) program, where I worked on the Digital Media Intellect team designing content for the Integrated Design & Media (IDM) department. We launched IDM’s LinkedIn and created cross-platform campaigns like Alumni in Action to spotlight student and alumni stories. Alongside this, I also worked as a paid graphic designer for IDM, contributing to the department’s evolving visual identity and community outreach materials.
Goals
Break stereotypes about IDM being “just UX”
Humanize post-grad career paths through alumni features
Engage both prospective students and NYU’s broader academic community
Develop a visual system that’s playful, informative, and cohesive across platforms
My Role
Conceptualized and designed all visual assets (Instagram & LinkedIn)
Created brand guidelines and reusable templates
Developed layouts for the Alumni in Action and Day in the Life series
Edited layouts based on team feedback and platform specs
Worked closely with a strategist and project manager for rollout
Visual Identity and Design Approach
The challenge was to create a cohesive visual identity that could adapt to both formal alumni features and playful student content. I leaned into bold gradients, chrome accents, halftones, and hand-drawn motifs; visual elements that reflected IDM’s experimental spirit while staying grounded in NYU’s academic brand. Each design was tailored to the platform: minimal and dynamic for Instagram, and clean and structured for LinkedIn. The goal was to strike a balance between clarity and creativity.
Project Highlights and Impact
Alumni in Action (LinkedIn)
A series of written Q&As spotlighting IDM alumni in creative and tech careers. I designed layouts that felt bold and easy to scan, using gradients, chrome textures, and sketch-like doodles to reflect IDM’s hybrid of art and technology.
→ Achieved our highest click-through rate (11.48%)
Day in the Life (Instagram Reels)
Short-form video content following current IDM students through their classes, projects, and workspaces. I developed supporting visual frames, titles, and post layouts to maintain identity across all formats.
→ Top post reached 2.8k+ people and had 26 comments
LinkedIn follower growth
Over one semester
Most clicks on a single alumni post
(Mayukh Goswami)
Highest CTR on LinkedIn post
(Aparna Ramakrishnan)
Reach on top-performing Instagram Reel
“Day in the Life” series
Non-follower reach on Instagram
Boosted audience beyond IDM
Views on “What is the IDM Program?” video
Posts designed and published
Across Instagram & LinkedIn
Launched IDM’s LinkedIn presence
With the most-clicked article
Alumni Spotlight featuring Aparna Ramakrishnan. This feature earned the highest click-through rate of all alumni posts at 11.48%, reflecting strong engagement and design clarity.
Hands-on Haptics Workshop Poster (Demo Day). Playful, high-energy event promo using cutout text, halftones, bold sparkle graphics, and layered visuals to amplify the interactivity and hands-on nature of the experience.
Alumni Spotlight featuring Mayukh Goswami. This post helped launch IDM’s LinkedIn presence and became the most-clicked article in the series, with 107 total clicks.
Student Feature: UES Porsche 911 CGI Showcase. Focused on sleek visuals, custom lighting, and student-led storytelling to highlight real-time CGI capabilities and technical craft.
Wearable Futures Talk: Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman. Clean, type-forward speaker promo designed for Instagram. Balances academic clarity with a soft gradient glow to spotlight guest expertise in wearable textiles.
FLESH FEEDBACK Lecture Series Poster Promotional graphic for IDM’s wearable tech lecture series, blending chrome textures and liquid gradients to reflect themes of touch, sensation, and experimental design.
Key Takeaways:
Designing within constraints helped me focus.
Working within NYU’s brand identity while also bringing in IDM’s experimental energy taught me how to balance structure and creativity. I had to consider practical aspects, including platform specs, a consistent layout, and tone, while still making each post feel engaging. Instead of seeing limitations as frustrating, I started to appreciate how they shape the design and give it direction.
Collaboration is crucial, especially with those outside your field.
This was the first time I worked like a small studio team (social media agency): with a strategist and project manager, not just other designers. We created content calendars, pitched ideas, coordinated outreach to alumni and students, and adjusted timelines as needed when things shifted. Not everyone I worked with thought like a designer, which meant I had to explain the process, timelines, and why certain things take time visually. It was a challenge at first, but it taught me how to communicate across roles. We even helped launch IDM’s LinkedIn page, which provides students and alumni with a space to connect, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to help shape it.
