Special Edition of PulsePoint

The Purdue President’s Council celebrated its Golden Anniversary during 2022. As giving is in the University’s DNA, John Purdue led the way with his original gift of $150,000 in 1869. Following his example, the President’s Council family has set the gold (and black) standard for private giving at Purdue since 1972.  

President’s Council releases a seasonal magazine to all members. In order to honor the 50th Anniversary milestone, President’s Council created a curated/historically accurate “yearbook” of President’s Council throughout the decades, to celebrate President’s Council’s first half-century and commemorate the impact that President’s Council has made for Purdue, and for the world.

Our team really wanted the piece to both feel like a yearbook, and include actually historical artifacts from the different decades of President’s Council each spread represented. When we approached the Creative Direction and design of the piece, we matched the design of the major aesthetics of the decades the spreads represented, both at Purdue, and internationally. We also approached the design as if we were designing an old-school yearbook. This is particularly evident in the 1970’s and 1980’s spread, where we designed some of the pages outside of our design software, as if we were actually designing like designer in the 1970’s. We made hand-done collages and scanned these into the spread in order to emulate yearbook and traditional layout and design techniques. In later spreads, we introduced the more contemporary Purdue branding styles, including the prevalence of the Old Gold in the 2000’s spread, to today’s contemporary Boilermaker Gold and Black design that is prevalent on campus. We also coordinated with the Purdue Archives, and combed through The Debris and historical copies of The Purdue Alumnus to get historical pictures from both President’s Council throughout the decades, and Purdue throughout the decades, to create a more authentic print piece.