Visual Identity Guidelines

Web Style Requirements

In order to advance the concept of one university, UMDNJ web pages, despite their diverse origins, must clearly convey a relationship to the whole University. These pages must also adhere to standards of quality and professionalism appropriate for an institution of higher education. In addition, attention to accessibility and user-friendliness are critical to carrying out UMDNJ’s mission effectively.

Each page of all school or unit web sites must include a link back to the UMDNJ home page.

Designing New Web Sites

University templates have been developed by the Department of University Affairs for use by entities within the University to ensure that their web pages have a unified institutional identity and comply with the visual identity standards. These templates are available through Digital Media Services (DMS), a unit of IST, and all should consult with DMS before embarking on web design or redesign.

Use of Templates for New or Redesigned Sites

While the template advances the image of one university, the layout includes three editable areas. The entity may use these areas to establish its own identity and include its own information. These editable areas include:

• The left navigation, the entity’s primary navigation. It may be static or may use the JavaScript tree form used by the University’s central site.
• The central area of the page. This holds the bulk of customized content, including photos and text.
• The right column. This area can be used for special news items, events or announcements.

Use of Color and Fonts for Web Sites

The color palette for the template is red (#CC0033), dark blue (#00529F), light blue (#3366CC) and black (#000000). These colors should be used in the editable areas of the web pages. For new and redesigned web site, the template includes a style sheet listing fonts available for the editable areas. Existing web sites must be sure that the HTML typefaces used are widely available.

Visual Identity and Existing Web Sites

As part of the effort to create the look of a single and unified organization, all pre-existing UMDNJ web sites should include a branding bar at the top of their home pages. The branding bar includes the UMDNJ logo and navigation tools for the UMDNJ site. It reflects the red/white/blue color palette of the UMDNJ home page. The branding bar is available through Digital Media Services, who will assist with incorporating the branding bar into the existing site.

Managing Content

A Web Communications Manager is part of the Department of University Affairs staff. The WCM with staff at IST will be responsible for training web content coordinators for existing and developing web sites in the use of approved content management tools.

Each web site must name a web content coordinator who is responsible for the creating, maintaining and updating of content and for adherence to UMDNJ web policies, the visual identity program, and technical requirements.

Hosting UMDNJ Web Sites

The University’s web policy requires that official UMDNJ web pages, that is, pages linked to the UMDNJ web site, must be hosted on University servers maintained by the University’s IST department. Sites must be addressed within the umdnj.edu domain; any exception must be approved by the Department of University Affairs.