How to Design a Language

Data Reporting Category Icons

Client: University of Georgia Office of Institutional Research

Role: Designer

The Office of Institutional Research (OIR) at UGA is responsible for gathering and tracking internal statistics at the university. Virtually any number having to do with UGA’s students, faculty, or staff is recorded by OIR. Naturally, much of this information is sensitive and needs to be securely shared within the university before being confirmed and finalized for public viewing. To improve their sharing process, OIR asked our creative team to design document “stamps” that would clearly denote a document’s sensitivity as “Not for Official Reporting”, “Internal Use Only”, “Preliminary”, and “Official”.

Not for Official Reporting – to be shared ONLY with originally intended recipient within the university

Internal Use Only – to be shared ONLY within the university

Preliminary – official data released before official data cycle

Official – official data report, may be shared with both internal and external audiences

This project was put on hold shortly after I presented this idea. Nevertheless, it’s been one of my favorite to work on. Boiling down the “internal vs. external” and “private vs. public” concepts into symbols was fun to think over. I think it’s the purest form of graphic design that I’ve worked on professionally.