Massachusetts College of Art and Design

Viewbook / Website / Collateral

Located in Boston, Massachusetts College of Art and Design is the only publicly-funded, free-standing art school in the United States, and was the first art college in the US to grant an arts degree.

For 13 years (starting in the early 90s) Stoltze provided design services for the Office of Admissions under the guidance of the amazing and supportive Kay Ransdell. These projects included viewbooks, websites, and other collateral. They were a playground for exploring the experimental design and expressive typographic trends of the era, while still clearly conveying dense information and appealing to a targeted audience. The results won numerous awards from leading national and international design organizations and were published widely in design showcases. Most importantly, the viewbooks performed superbly as recruitment vehicles and marketing tools. (Former MassArt president Kay Sloan acknowledged that it was the lively print collateral MassArt published that piqued her interest in the position.) Because there were no overarching brand guidelines, we were able to treat each viewbook redesign as a complete refresh. We took a “whatever-it-takes” attitude that helped to establish a diverse and flexible visual identity that reflected a progressive, inspiring, and rigorous art education.

Stoltze Design has a strong, long-standing association with MassArt. As a visiting professor, Clif taught design and typography there for 10 years, and design director Katherine Hughes is now an Assistant Professor in the Communication Design Department.