Hillsdale College Admissions published an interactive iBook for the iPad for prospective students and friends of the college to download.
“We don’t know of any other college in the country that has this, so we feel we’re on the cutting edge of communication,” Director of Admissions Jeff Lantis said.
The 32-page iBook opens with a video introducing its reader to Hillsdale’s campus and leads to a table of contents where the reader can choose from one of 13 sections to read.
“We basically encompassed the material from a bunch of different brochures and put it all on the iBook, so instead of having a handout for financial aid, one for sports, one for Greek life, it’s all represented in the iBook, and each page is very interactive with slideshows and videos on each page,” co-creator Jon Lewis `13 said.
It all started with two Hillsdale students sitting next to each other in Professor of Business Law David Paas’s entrepreneurship class.
Lewis, a junior at the time, and Jake Mueller, a sophomore, partnered up to create a business for the class. They spent the semester working on a publishing business, Phalereus Publishing. Instead of ditching the idea after the project was due, they continued to develop it.
Now, two and a half years later, the two Hillsdale graduates sit next to each other in their office at 43 North St. in downtown Hillsdale. This fall, not only have they partnered with Bryan Springer, an art instructor at Hillsdale, but their first major project for the new direction of their business was recently published: the Hillsdale College Admissions Viewbook iBook.
“Jake and I both enjoy a lot of different aspects of learning, so it’s been a lot of fun working on this together,” Lewis said.
Lewis said their business was first intended for classical publishing. They published a few books, including “The Ethics of Freedom,” by Professor of Business law Bob Blackstock. The duo asked Springer to design the cover.
“They wanted to rely on someone to create the graphic design, so we started talking about working together more often after I did Blackstock’s cover,” Springer said. “They brought me in as more of a consultant, but made me part-owner as a way to show their commitment towards me.”
However, the owners were inspired to transform their business after Kraig McNutt, vice president for digital and new initiatives, came to them with the idea to publish the “Constitution Reader” in iBook format. After transforming the “Reader” into an iBook, they realized the potential in enhanced book publishing.
In the summer, the marketing department was working with admissions to find more ways to reach out to prospective students, when McNutt came up with the idea to turn the Viewbook into an iBook.
After winning the approval of Lantis, they went to work on the project. It was finished within three weeks, and on Oct. 4 the Viewbook was published.
“We’re very excited,” Lantis said.
The iBook has the same sections as the current Viewbook, such as student life, academics, and sports, but goes into more depth on each subject with added pictures, videos, and documents. The page entitled “Beautiful Settings,” which shows off Hillsdale’s campus, is brand new to the Viewbook’s pages. The iBook ends with contact information to schedule a visit to campus, as well as a link to apply to Hillsdale.
Springer described it as a very “collaborative process.”
“Normally several handouts are given to prospectives and it can be pretty overwhelming, but now, it’s all right there,” senior and student ambassador Aaron Tracey said.
A favorite feature amongst those who have viewed the iBook is the interactive map. Instead of just viewing a map that names each building, the iBook reader can click on any building on the map and is given a 3D panoramic shot where they can zoom in any direction to tour the grounds.
“It’s basically a self-guided tour of the different facilities on campus,” Lantis said. “My favorite part is seeing the reaction of students and parents when they open it; we hear a lot of ‘wow’ and a lot of ‘amazing,’ when they see it.”
Lantis and Tracey brought the iBook with them to show it off to prospective students at a college fair in Toledo three weeks ago.
“Other schools had iPads out and the prospectives could just slide through pictures, but with ours, they were able to virtually walk around our campus,” Tracey said.
Lantis said it’s a great recruiting tool to get students to visit campus, which he added is the most important aspect of college recruiting.
And for the students who are too far away for a campus visit, Tracey said the iBook will “definitely give them a better feel for Hillsdale’s campus.”
Although he said he was very happy with the iBook, McNutt said this is just version one.
“The hope is to continue to invest in more versions. We would include more specifics about the core and different majors, and even more panoramas,” McNutt said. “They did a great job and I look forward to giving them more opportunities.”
McNutt said the marketing department plans to use marketing tactics to take advantage of the huge audience of iPad users.
“We sent out an e-blast announcing to 10,000 that if they have an iPad they can download this iBook for free and it would be a wonderful opportunity for them to see campus different than just watching video or reading a publication,” Lantis said.
With the new version of Apple, iBooks will soon be available on all Apple desktops, which will allow for an even larger target audience.
As for Phalereus Publishing, they are in the process of rebranding and hope to have a new name and logo by Jan. 1.
After that, they plan on expanding their services of publishing to more colleges and businesses.
“Creating these iBooks is comparable to app development but cheaper and faster,” Mueller said. “It’s a great communications tool and businesses are always looking for new ways to communicate to their customers and clients. There’s a huge potential for growth, we just have to market it well and get people excited about it.”
