Campus BuildingsPapercraft

Problem

Direct mail to prospective students is easy to recycle. UChicago was already sending letters to students' homes, but a letter that gets read once and discarded isn't doing much work. The question was whether a piece of physical mail could do something more — give a student a reason to hold onto it, engage with it, and maybe share it. The challenge was turning a standard recruitment letter into something a high schooler would actually want.

Decision

The solution came from an unexpected direction: the back of the letter. I conceived and designed a series of papercraft models — one per mailing — each featuring an iconic UChicago building rendered in single-color maroon line illustration with a gothic architectural style. Students could cut, fold, and assemble the model directly from the letter itself. Each building got a name as charming as the craft itself: Harper Half-Pint, Pocket Feller, Cobblette, Lil' Logie, and Mini-Sueto. There were five in the series, deliberately designed as a collectible set — students who received multiple mailings would know there were more to find. Instructions were written and designed to fit on the same sheet without crowding the model, a layout constraint that required as much care as the illustration itself.

Outcome

The response was immediate and organic. Students began posting photos of their completed structures on social media and emailing pictures directly to the admissions office — unprompted, enthusiastic proof that the piece was landing exactly as intended. Counselors heard repeatedly that the papercrafts were clever and memorable. The project caught enough attention that UChicago Magazine ran a feature on it. For a recruitment mailing, that kind of earned attention — social posts, press coverage, students actively seeking the next one — is about as good as it gets.