Client: Westminster College (presently Westminster University)
Role: Contract Graphic Designer
Tools used: InDesign
As part of Westminster College’s transition to university status, the institution was required to provide professionally formatted, printable PDF catalogs for accreditation purposes. I was brought on to lead the design and formatting of these documents, using existing course information pulled from the college’s website to create structured, accessible, and print-ready catalogs for each academic year.
Working with both undergraduate and graduate programs, I reformatted catalog content spanning academic years 2012 through 2019. This involved organizing complex curricular data, standardizing layouts, applying consistent typographic hierarchy, and ensuring that each document met institutional and accreditation standards.
The final catalogs were designed for clarity, navigability, and long-term usability—serving not only as academic references but also as formal archival documents for the institution. This project combined editorial design, information architecture, and print production, resulting in a set of cohesive and professional academic publications that supported Westminster College’s successful efforts to become a university.
The Process
At the time I began this project, Westminster College only had course catalog available in an online format. The current year’s catalog was accessible through the website, but archived versions needed to be available as downloadable and printable PDFs to meet accreditation requirements. My task was to create high-quality, formatted PDF versions for each academic year—making sure they were consistent, professional, and accessible.
One of the biggest challenges I encountered was the visual similarity of the content across pages and across years. This made it easy for small errors or inconsistencies to slip through unnoticed. To address this, I implemented a strict personal quality control process: I took regular eye breaks to maintain focus, built in time for multiple rounds of review, and developed a rhythm for cross-checking each section. This diligence helped ensure that each catalog was as accurate and consistent as possible.
I’ve shown my InDesign workspace during the catalog production process. Here you can see the full spread in progress along with the Pages panel on the right, which shows the extensive page count and structure across the document. I used master pages to maintain consistent elements such as headers, footers, and page numbering throughout each catalog. The use of paragraph and character styles allowed for precise control over typography and ensured visual consistency from section to section.
Course Catalog
The slides below highlight a selection of interior pages from the reformatted course catalogs. These examples demonstrate the consistent typographic hierarchy, clear layout structure, and attention to detail applied across hundreds of pages. Each spread was designed in Adobe InDesign with a focus on readability, visual organization, and fidelity to the original web-based content. Despite the repetitive nature of academic material, subtle formatting choices help guide the reader and differentiate sections, ensuring each catalog functions as both a practical reference and a professional archival document.
Outcome
Thanks to years of coordinated effort across departments, Westminster was officially accredited as a University in 2023! While many elements contributed to this achievement, I’m proud to have played a small but meaningful role in the process. As both an alum and a designer, it was especially rewarding to contribute work that supported the college’s transition, helping to create the foundational materials necessary for accreditation and the institution’s next chapter.