Since 2022, Princeton University’s Advancement office has looked to Thinkso to design a printed report documenting the impact of its mission-driven “Venture Forward” campaign, which is focused on fundraising, alumni engagement, and telling the University’s story. Using premium materials and printing techniques, each volume is engineered to make a strong initial impression, engaging stakeholders with impressive physicality and rich visual storytelling. For Thinkso, each year—and each new theme—has been an opportunity to thoughtfully evolve the Venture Forward brand, and help grow and extend its mission.
Venture Forward Impact Report 2022
Entitled Dare to Venture, the report is structured around a series of “what if?” questions that probe the University’s unique approach to the liberal arts and highlight the campaign’s accomplishments to date. The lightweight dust jacket carries the title and campaign branding — adding dimension, interest, and a high quality sensibility. Its intricate chevron die-cut and the concentric motif that shows through tie back to the Venture Forward campaign identity. The report received a silver Circle of Excellence award from the Council for Advancement Support of Education (CASE).
“The striking design was integral to successfully telling the story of the campaign’s first year—and emphatically set the tone for the next three to come.” Lisa A. Burke, Director of Design, Princeton University Advancement Communications
A handful of common components combine from spread to spread. They include a consistent position and treatment of the “what if?” question, the use of QR codes to sync to a variety of videos and other pertinent online content, as well as bold statistical claims to reinforce the message. As a nice surprise, the inside front cover of the dust jacket flips out to serve as a mini table of contents for the report.
The report’s magazine-like spreads are energetic, inviting, and hold the reader’s attention. They highlight sidebar stories, introduce alumni and student quotes, and reflect the vibrant spirit of the university and campaign. Additionally, the oversized format communicates confidence, stands out in recipient’s mail and is much harder to throw away than a typical brochure.
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Venture Forward Impact Report 2023
In year two, Princeton’s Venture Forward campaign was making a big impact on campus and beyond. So University Advancement reengaged Thinkso to create a premium printed report that would make an equally big impact. Building on the prior year’s report design, the Thinkso team upped the ante, rising to the challenge of packing in even more compelling and diverse content and making subtle improvements to the book’s physical quality to upgrade the tactile experience. The goal was to create a report so beautiful that it was “too hard to throw away.” Mission accomplished.
This year’s “Making audacious bets” theme was all about upping the impact of the campaign, which inspired the “ripple effect” design on the cover—a visual cue to the ongoing, ever-widening effect of Princeton’s innovation and influence.
The ripple-effect illustration flows throughout the book. A unique tri-fold cover and die cut creates an engaging—and intriguing—beginning to the reading experience.
The success of the fundraising program—and the Princeton community’s enthusiasm for it—created a deep well of stats, content, and personalities to explore. Thinkso was challenged to create spreads that really pulled their weight to capture a greater amount of information and storytelling—all while holding true to a refined visual strategy.
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Venture Forward Impact Report 2024
In 2024, Princeton and Thinkso partnered for the third consecutive year to produce a premium impact report to the University’s flagship Venture Forward campaign. Forging New Paths was both the strategy and theme for this year’s fundraising and engagement efforts, and inspired the overall design as well as specific visual elements — an evocation of Princeton’s fertile network of collaborative connections. Building on the rich visual vocabulary developed for the preceding two reports, Thinkso evolved the design thoughtfully with a combination of subtle touches and distinctive, bold moves that would stand out, and also fit with the previous editions when viewed together.
Striking, map-like line work symbolizes Princeton’s deep and broad connections, both literal and figurative, within and beyond the campus.
To bring the pathways of the report’s theme to life, we explored various ways a signature pattern—tightly woven lines that resemble topographic maps—could be applied to the cover and interior spreads. By overlaying the campaign pattern on top of the campus pathways—literally drawing the connections between departments—we made the collaborative connections that define the campaign’s impact explicit.
The gatefold moment moves the reader from the abstract to the literal—from the campaign’s animating theme to the concrete results of its impact.
Photographs of faculty, students and alumni became central to the story, ultimately making this a report about people—their passions, their innovative projects, and their transformative philanthropy—as much as fundraising and measurable data.