Overview
Project Type: Interior Design, Graphic Design (Print/Digital), Social Media Marketing, Information Design.
Year: 2025.
Software or Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Homestyler, Mailchimp, Meta Business Suite, Adobe Premiere Pro, Canva.
Table of Contents
Introduction
The Wellington Education Group head office and campus relocated to a new address at the end of 2025.
The design team supported this move with a wide range of different task types and output materials needed to execute the relocation as smoothly as possible for all parties involved. My work helped plan how the new space would function, decide where existing furniture would be placed, allocate staff workspaces, and ensure that all staff, students, and partnered agencies were informed about the upcoming change in address.
The Challenge
The relocation of the head office and campus involved more than simply moving furniture. Not only were renovations done to alter the previous layout of the office, but the new location needed to accommodate for:
- Student and teacher desks and chairs in classrooms
- Staff workstations, assigned based on each person’s role and responsibilities
- Class capacity requirements
- Government requirements for classroom furniture size and spacing
- Existing furniture needed to be measured, assessed, and reused where possible to keep the budget low and avoid purchasing new furniture
- Common spaces where students can relax, study, or eat in
- Every room had different measurements and layouts
- Clear communication with students, staff, and partnered agencies
The challenge was to make the best use of all the available space and existing furniture, while still ensuring that the new location is practical, compliant with regulations, and ready for day-to-day use.
My Role
I worked across both planning and communication aspects of the relocation. My responsibilities included:
- Updating floor plans to match the newly renovated room layouts
- Measuring and itemising the existing furniture
- Producing 2D furniture layouts using the floor plans and furniture measurements to plan for moving and placement
- Assessing where furniture could best be reused in the new location
- Creating 3D mockups in Homestyler of all three floors with furniture included, to visually communicate planning with other staff and managers
- Allocating desks and seats to staff
- Planning student and teacher desks arrangements in each classroom
- Ensuring that classroom layouts are compliant with size, spacing, and capacity requirements
- Designing social media, website, email signature banners, and Mailchimp email newsletter announcements
- Communicating relocation information to students and partner agencies
Floor Plans & Furniture
We began with creating new versions of the floor and ceiling plans, based on pre-existing floor plans and our own measurements. These floor plans were used to help other project stakeholders determine the measurements for the renovations.
Once the new floor plans were solidified, I created an itemised list of the furniture around campus, recording each item’s measurements, type, photo, the current location, and the potential new location (once furniture planning was finalised).
This created a clear picture of what could be moved, if anything should be discarded, and how each item could fit into the new layout.
Using the 2D floor plans, I explored different arrangements for:
- Staff offices and shared workspaces
- Classrooms and student seating
- Common student spaces e.g., lounge area, kitchen
- Storage and shared equipment
These plans helped guide the furniture moving and placement process, while reducing the risk of items being moved to the wrong room or floor where they didn’t fit. There were more floors, which meant that it was vital that large furniture was carefully considered for placement, and all furniture be labelled correctly for its intended floor, as it would be difficult to move it to a different floor later.
Classroom Planning & Compliance
For the classrooms, I planned the students and teacher desk arrangements with furniture size, room layout, capacity, and spacing requirements in mind. Classrooms needed to be functional for students across a variety of courses. Every student should be able to see the board clearly. There needed to be enough space around the seating area to ensure that students could get in and out of chairs comfortable, and not bump into one another. Each seat needed to be easy for students to access from the door.
The layout for the new location were very different from the existing layout. There were more rooms, but the rooms were smaller and each had a different layout. The combination of room size, furniture size, spacing requirements, and minimum required seating capacity made the furniture plan a complicated exercise in problem solving. Structural features, such as pillars, windows, or door and whiteboard locations also impacted how a classroom could be set up. Power access points in each classroom or office also needed to be considered for rooms which required computed and smart board screens.
Staff Workspace Planning
I assigned workspaces to staff using existing desk measurements, job roles, and staff preferences so that everyone working in the office had a designated place to work. This required balancing available space with staff needs, room layouts, and the practical requirements of each workspace and job role. For example, staff members that interact directly with students would be best located close to, or in, the reception area.
3D Modelling Mockups
I created 3D mockups in Homestyler to communicate visually to other staff, and later to students and partner agencies, what to expect the new campus and office to look like.
These models visualised how rooms could look and function, and expressed the proposed furniture layouts more clearly than the floor plans alone, making it much easier to review furniture placement, accessibility, and room function.
The mockups were particularly useful in identifying potential issues early, including crowded areas, narrow walkways, poor visibility or accessibility of seats, and layouts that didn’t provide enough space for movement.
Relocation Notice Materials | Marketing Campaign
Once all the planning was done, we needed to notify all the students and partner agencies about our move.
I designed the social media and email newsletter announcements to communicate the move to the new location. A variety of different forms of media and platforms were used, in attempt to reach as many relevant people as possible. Social media channels included Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, where both video and image posts were published. Recurring email newsletters were sent to all students and partnered contacts using Mailchimp. I even created a variety of digital banners for staff to include in the signatures of their work emails.
These communications shared key information such as:
- The new address
- When the move would happen
- How to contact the organisation for any questions
The announcements used straightforward messaging so that important information could be understood quickly across different channels.
Outcome
Through careful planning, the project resulted in a coordinated relocation plan covering space layouts, furniture placement, staff seating, classroom capacity and seating, and external communications. The floor plans, furniture inventories, and 3D mockups supported the practical part of the move, while the announcement campaign kept students and partner agencies informed.
The project allowed me to work across multiple areas of design, from technical planning and visualisation, to social media content creation. It strengthened my ability to turn complex logistical requirements into clear, usable systems and designs.
This relocation project showed me how design can support both people and processes. For the move to go smoothly, it required careful planning, problem-solving, communication, and attention to how people would actually need a space to function for its intended use.