Digital Signage Policy & Guidelines

This policy was created to outline the guidelines for use of the digital signage located in College of Nursing.

Axis TV digital signage is a resource for University of Iowa colleges, departments and other units. Digital signs share information and promote programs sponsored by university units or university-affiliated organizations.

Content Guidelines

The following are general guidelines for UI digital signage:

• Use signs to promote university unit- or organization-sponsored programs, events, or activities.
• Do not use signs to promote commercial activities or advertisements from non-university organizations.
• Messages that invite public participation in programs must include the university’s accessibility statement.
• Messages should not use copyrighted images or content without permission or license.
• Messages should include the university’s official logo or the College of Nursing’s logo, and should follow other UI graphic identity system guidelines. Management Individual colleges determine what their signs will display, with two exceptions:
  • Centrally distributed Hawk Alert messages that override unit-scheduled messages in emergency situations. Public Safety/ITS will determine when to deploy a Hawk Alert override.
  • Institutional messages requested by the president or vice presidents that units add to scheduled message rotations.

The Office of Strategic Communication will approve or disapprove these requests, producing and distributing slides configured for different signage systems. Requests for Posting Messages Content pertaining to CON events (particularly on-site), updates, research, and seminars will be given top priority for posting in Axis TV. All additional requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Please allow 2-3 business days for creation of all non-emergency messages. Urgent, last-minute requests, e.g., room change for class or speaker, will be expedited and published as quickly as possible.

GUIDELINES

Visual Rules – Design for the Human Eye Developing messages for digital displays is a fun, creative process that lets you experiment with the design elements of color, contrast, text and arrangement. In order to retain readability within an artistic, impactful presentation space, several basic rules should be understood. Contrast & Legibility The best message may be lost if the viewer cannot easily see the information displayed on the screen.

Contrast is the primary factor for legibility: Poor contrast reduces legibility. Good contrast improves legibility. For example, dark backgrounds should utilize light foreground colors. Light backgrounds should utilize dark foreground colors. The 3x5 Rule Words on the screen are there to communicate clear concise information. Remember to keep messages uncluttered. Keep the type size large for legibility at a distance, and present only the most important ideas. Try not to use more than: 3 lines of text with 5 words each OR 5 lines of text with 3 words each Display Time Digital slides are generally displayed for 7 to 12 seconds at a time. Therefore, the messages on these slides should be designed to be read and absorbed with this timeframe in mind. Text Styles Unless you are duplicating a brand or logotype, keep the font simple and legible. Never use more than two font styles in a single message and use italics sparingly, as they can be hard to read from a distance. Popular fonts include Arial, Tahoma, and Times New Roman. A "serif" font is a typeface having small strokes at the end of the main strokes of each character, such as Times New Roman shown above. Fonts like Arial that do not have serifs are referred to as "san serif". San Serif fonts tend to be easier to read in messages, as serif fonts are better for large quantities of text (a paragraph or more) - then serif fonts help the human eye to track from word to word. Keep in mind that text size and the use of bold can help improve readability. Focus Techniques Use various techniques to pull the viewer’s focus to critical information first. Guide the eye and provide visual hierarchy by utilizing the tips we’ve provided on text styles and color. Graphics, flow and white space also give visual "clues" to guide viewing patterns. Spatial arrangement of design elements determines the hierarchy for the eye. Is your graphic or your text more prominent? Very colorful items and/or high contrast will pull the eye first. Size will also play a part in determining what is considered high priority to the viewer. A consistent presentation of information over time can help to train your audience to look for important information in familiar formats. Consider developing design templates or guidelines to preserve continuity. Creating Bulletins in AxisTV Importing Content The fastest way to get started creating exciting bulletin content in AxisTV is to import graphics and video files that already have been created using other applications such as PowerPoint®, Flash®, and Photoshop®.

AxisTV offers three ways to import existing content to create bulletins:

Image/VideoPowerPoint®PowerPoint® & Arrange (v. 7.0.23 and 7.1) AxisTV Media Guide AxisTV supports a wide variety of media formats you can use to energize your visual communications. Import sharp still graphics or dynamic animated content to capture and keep your audience’s attention. To help you get the most out of your message, follow these suggestions to optimize content from the most popular media platforms:

• Graphics
• Video and Audio
• Flash
• Media Streaming
• Media Library Graphics Import graphics from a wide range of software applications by saving or exporting them into popular graphical formats.

AxisTV supports JPG, TIF, GIF, PNG, WMF and Microsoft Windows bitmap (BMP) files. Video and Audio Attract and entice your audience with dynamic video content. AxisTV supports AVI, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and Microsoft Windows Media Video (WMV) formats.

Video Clips can be uploaded if they have any of the following formats:

• Flash (SWF) 
• Windows Media (ASF)
• Windows Media (AVI)
• Windows Media (MPEG)
• Windows Media (MPG)
• Windows Media (WMV)
• QuickTime (MOV, MP4, M4V)

Audio files can be uploaded if they have any of the following formats:

• MP3 (MP3)
• Wave File (WAV)

Contact

If you would like information posted on AxisTV, or for any digital signage questions, comments or concerns, please contact any of the following College of Nursing staff:

Jamie Nicpon
Justin Pooley
Jill Hartz