The Taft School Viewbook

What does it mean to be a Taft Graduate? What does it mean to be a Taft student? Our latest design for The Taft School viewbook tells the story of this Connecticut boarding school from the perspective of students and faculty. In doing so, the text speaks directly to student applicants and “shows” rather than “tells” prospective parents how life at Taft connects to life after graduation.

To inform our design approach, Good Design analyzed current viewbooks from ten of Taft’s closest peer schools, paying close attention to how space was allocated to various messages. We also met with an educational consultant to confer about how families seeking boarding schools currently utilize viewbooks. With the results of this research, we streamlined the Taft viewbook’s core content to tell a complete story in less space, alongside vignettes of students, faculty, and alumni.

The final design draws readers into the story of Taft as enticingly as if they were reading a high-quality magazine. It also allows for student vignettes to be updated annually, so that families who begin looking at this school several years in advance of applying will see updated content with each new edition of the viewbook. As a result, Taft will have a “new” viewbook each year without needing to increase the budget for this important admissions tool.