On March 5, 2020, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology enacted a policy restricting campus travel, visitors, and events in response to the global spread of COVID-19. As a result, the MIT Office of Admissions was tasked with transitioning Campus Preview Weekend (a large-scale event for admitted students hosted each spring) to an entirely virtualized experience—a month out from the event date.

Arguably the largest and most beloved campus-wide events at the Institute, CPW helps admitted students imagine their futures at MIT, serving as both as a crucial enrollment management tool for the admissions office and site for meaningful community engagement.

With the transition from a traditional visit program to a virtual alternative came the need to reimagine the Campus Preview Weekend brand. While we gained time and flexibility with running a set of virtual programs, we would be losing the personal touch that makes in-person visits to MIT so valuable: late night conversations shared over liquid nitrogen ice cream, games of life-sized Tetris, played on the windows of a campus high rise building. The challenge? Develop a CPW brand that would reflect the colorful, imaginative, and diverse character of the MIT community.

The brand refresh needed to reflect the new virtual experience without sacrificing the recognition and familiarity (decades in the making) of the traditional program. The design solution offers uses an asterisk as a vehicle to signal modification.

Asterisks in the logo, wordmarks, and icons indicate that the program is no longer the literal weekend spent on campus, but rather a new set of virtual events occurring throughout the month of April that share the same directive with the original program—welcoming new students to the MIT community.

The asterisk convention allow us to retain the core CPW brand while signaling change; it provides a visual cue to communicate that CPW has not been cancelled, but rather it has evolved to meet the needs of a new situation. In-person events replaced with Zoom meetings; friendly conversations replaced by an active Discord server; hackathons and build challenges replaced with an effort to collaboratively construct a virtual MIT campus through Minecraft.

To call attention to the beautiful chaos and breadth of Campus Preview Weekend (and MIT as a whole), the asterisk placed within a solid colored circle can take on a variety of surprising color combinations. These whimsical pairings communicate the unconventional vibrance and diversity that characterize MIT.

The CPW team developed mobile and web applications for users to explore and access nearly 500 virtual events throughout the month of April. The red asterisk functions seamlessly as distinct and memorable mobile app icon; asterisk color variations are used to add energy to banner images.

By updating—but not overhauling—the MIT CPW brand, we adapt a well-recognized brand to meet the needs of unforeseen changes in platform and tone.

By retaining the Campus Preview Weekend name, we preserve brand equity from within the MIT community and beyond. By introducing the asterisk as a device to signal change and injecting with an unexpected color palette, we build a design system that reflects the diversity and dynamism of MIT student culture.

The refreshed CPW brand communicates to campus partners, students, and families alike that MIT Admissions is evolving to meet the needs of the Institute in rapidly changing times.