Everything.

Early in my return to Bennington as editor, I volunteered to represent Bennington at a massive admissions fair in New York City, where hundreds of colleges packed into an athletic arena to meet prospective students. Standing behind the Bennington table, I quickly noticed something: students and parents rarely looked down at the materials or me. Instead, they scanned the banners above each table. If a name caught their eye, or they liked the location, they’d approach, often with a pre-filled contact sticker, and almost always asked the same opening question: "Do you have ____?" Pre-law, visual arts, psychology, music composition — the subjects varied, but the pattern was unmistakable. At most colleges, it’s an easy answer. But at Bennington — where students design their major through a plan process, without traditional majors, minors, or course requirements — the answer was far more complex. Coming out of that event, I worked alongside the Vice President for Communications, the Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, and my longtime design partner Carol June Jessop to rethink Bennington’s entire approach to admissions materials. The first college fair piece we created was this small, vivid green brochure — a nod to Vermont’s landscape and psychological association with possibility — with a die-cut circle at its center and the simple, magnetic message: Everything. Placed on admissions tables, the piece immediately drew 50% more students, and when they asked counselors, “Do you have….” Counselors would smile and say, “We have everything.”