How Høyskolen Kristiania went from 78 to more than 300 self-made files in six weeks

When Ernst G. Mortensen founded Norsk Korrespondanseskole in Kristiania in 1914, the idea was as simple as it was radical: education should be available to everyone, no matter where in the country they lived. Lessons were sent out by mail across all of Norway, and the school grew from 125 students in its first year to tens of thousands within a couple of decades.

A century later, Høyskolen Kristiania (Kristiania University College) is one of Norway's largest private university colleges, with tens of thousands of students in Oslo, Bergen and online, and one of the country's largest creative academic environments. This is where tomorrow's communicators, designers and marketers are trained.

It comes as no surprise that a college with such a strong creative identity also sets high standards for its own communication. In the marketing department, Svein Meek and his team produce material for both external and internal communication, advertising for the school, and everything that comes with the college's many events. Mediaflow is used both as an image bank and as the platform for the department's design templates.

The challenge

How do you produce a lot of material, fast, without losing the thread?

Before the templates were in place, much of the team's time went to things that didn't really require a designer.

"We used to spend a lot of time on small, recurring tasks and got a steady stream of requests that really just broke up our workflow. And very often it was urgent, too," says Svein Meek.

At the same time, there was another challenge. With many employees who all have different needs, the result could easily become inconsistent if everyone solved their own material on their own.

The solution

Clear frameworks, freedom to fill in

The solution was to build their own design templates in Mediaflow. Employees now fill in their own content within a ready-made framework, which keeps the look consistent no matter who creates the material.

"We designed how the templates should look ourselves, and then they're set up in the platform so the framework is in place and users can simply fill in the content," says Svein.

In practice, the threshold is low. The team can either guide an employee to the right template, or start a draft that the person finishes themselves.

The result

From 78 to more than 300 files, and employees who manage on their own

The effect showed quickly, both in how much the templates are used and in how much time the team gets back. The need for ad hoc tasks has dropped significantly, and instead Svein and his small team can spend their time on the bigger jobs and on developing the college's profile further.

The usage speaks for itself.

"It started with 78 files used over three months, and grew to more than 300 a month and a half later," says Svein.

Just as important is what happens with the employees themselves. When they create their material, they usually succeed on their own, and the next time they rarely need any help at all.

"Many people feel a real sense of accomplishment and pride at being able to do it on their own."

The fact that the templates are also openly available means anyone can go in and try them, and get a feel for how easy it is to create material that looks right from the very start.

About Høyskolen Kristiania

• Founded: 1914 by Ernst G. Mortensen as Norsk Korrespondanseskole (NKS), Norway's first correspondence school
• Form: A non-profit educational foundation since 1976 (Ernst G. Mortensens Stiftelse)
• Campuses: Oslo and Bergen, plus an extensive range of online studies
• Size: One of Norway's largest private university colleges, with more than 16,000 students
• Profile: One of Norway's largest creative academic environments, with programs in communication, marketing, design, art, technology and economics, among others
• Ambition: Has the stated goal of becoming Norway's first private university