FicticiousAlumni of UChicago

Problem

The UChicago admissions lobby sees thousands of prospective students and families every year — and lobbies, however well designed, tend to blur together in the memory of someone visiting five schools in a week. The question was whether the space could do something more: spark a conversation, show some personality, and signal that UChicago has a sense of humor about itself. A university that counts fictional characters among its alumni is already interesting. The challenge was making that interesting.

Decision

Our creative team researched and curated a collection of ten beloved fictional characters from film and television who attended UChicago — from Dr. Indiana Jones and Dr. Richard Kimble to Kitty Pryde, Mark Watney, and Jack McCoy. Each character received a fully illustrated portrait and a piece of original copy written to feel like a genuine alumni profile, complete with UChicago-specific details: campus buildings, university traditions, and inside references that current students and faculty would immediately recognize. The illustration style was warm and editorial, designed as a cohesive poster series for the admissions lobby and adapted as a mailable postcard. Every word of the character copy was written to reward a close read — absurdist but specific, in a voice that feels distinctly UChicago.

Outcome

The posters became a fixture of the admissions lobby experience — the kind of thing visitors stopped to read and photograph. The postcard extended that moment into students' homes. The project's most unrepeatable outcome: Harrison Ford, who portrays both Indiana Jones and Dr. Richard Kimble in the collection, was spotted in the lobby during a campus visit, admiring the posters featuring his own fictional alumni. No brief could have planned for that.