Communications, Public Affairs

Open the CSUN Weekly (University level) Faculty and Staff Achievements, Publications Form

• If you have an announcement that does not call for a story, this is the form that will get your accolades to CSUN Weekly and/or CSUN Today.

Open the HHD Publicity Submission Form for news, stories or college-level events

• If you have content that would make a good story for either HHD's news, events or social media, or for a pitch to CSUN Today/CSUN Weekly, this is the form to use.

(CSUN ID login required)

Open this box.com folder and find the HHD College and Department logos.

Open this box.com folder and find the HHD center logos.

HHD logos are available from CSUN Marketing and Communications "Specific Logos"

• If you need vector (.eps) files or high-resolution print-ready files, please contact Jean O'Sullivan directly.

Stationery: Order through Quick Copies/Reprographics.

Always keep in mind that your materials represent the college and the university. Here's a quality checklist:

• proof for accuracy of content - fact check.
• proof for grammar and spelling (and have someone else proof it, too).
• take an objective look for appropriate use of images
• Are there stretched or squeezed images?  Don't let that happen.  Make sure the aspect ratio has not become distorted as you formatted your document.
• Make sure you're using appropriate terminology and using correct titles of courses, programs, options, majors, departments and college/university entities.
• Let common sense be your guide to projecting a presence that is positive and culturally aware.

For best quality, shoot video indoors to avoid background noise, wind on mic, etc.

Lighting: Video and Photo

• Make sure that your subject face is nicely illuminated as evenly as possible.
• For video selfie, if you don’t have video lighting, use natural light from a window in front of you (indirect daylight is best) or set up a lamp (or two) in front of you with a soft “daylight” balanced bulb (~5000k color temperature)

Camera Placement and Framing: Video

• Laptop

• Place laptop camera or webcam is at eye level (or just above).
• Place yourself centered horizontally on the screen, and line up your eyes at the top third of the screen.
• Give yourself enough distance from the camera to avoid cutting off the top of your head or the bottom of your chin.
• When speaking, look at the the camera to better connect with the audience.

• Added notes for Phone or Tablet
  • Place the device on a firm surface.
  • Avoid motion in your frame  - don't have someone hold your device for you and act as camera operator.
  • Be close enough to the device to follow the framing guidelines for laptop video, above.

Video: Sounds

• A large room with some furniture is best, (living room or an office) this will help minimize the amount of echo in the room.
• If you are speaking to the camera or demonstrating something, keep background noise as minimal as possible.
• Avoid wind on the mic.
• Please don't add music to your video unless you have been asked to do so.

Photo and Video Backgrounds

• Choose Natural/Room Backgrounds
• Use an environment where you are lit brighter than your background.
• Avoid harsh light and shadows in the background.
• Avoid lighting “hotspots” from windows with direct sunlight in your background.
• When shooting video, avoid a background where household members or pets can walk behind you.
• Some furniture or decorative items in the background will add interest, depth and personality… however, avoid inappropriate, distracting items and cluttered surfaces.
• For photos, depth of field in the background can be helpful (rather than taking a photo of someone with a wall directly behind them.
• Keep your subject close to the center of the frame.

Clothing

• Wear clothing that will contrast with your background so that you don’t blend into it.
• For video, avoid small prints, stripes or busy patterns to prevent distortion.

CSUN Academic Affairs Web One Guidelines can help you build and expand your site.

Faculty websites: The Faculty Technology Center can help you learn to build your faculty website.

• An additional approach to creating a faculty web presence is to utilize the CSUN faculty app  Since the app lists faculty by default and pulls course information, it's a good idea to populate whether or not you have a faculty website. You can also add a bio, office hours and photo.

CSUN Marketing & Communications Identity Platform.  Includes:

• CSUN Logo and Logo System
• Design Guidelines
• Messaging Guidelines
• Web One & Web One Style Guide
• Broadcast Email
• Social Media
• Athletics and the Matador
• Downloads (graphics, templates, etc.

Notes on the Above and Additional Resources:

Social Media: The University’s social media policy could be viewed as set of guidelines, but it is understood that social media at CSUN is representative of the university and so is to be used under the direction of official entities of the university.

It is not recommended by HHD that students create social media pages for departments, program areas, or student groups except under the direct supervision of faculty.  Supervising faculty would be accountable for content and the way the social media is used. For example, if students in a program area within a department wanted a social media presence, they would ask their supervising faculty to serve as the administrator of the social media page, and that faculty member would be responsible for overseeing and reviewing content.  Also, the supervising faculty would be responsible for removing admins from the social media presence when they leave the program and assigning the roles to new students, keeping the presence alive themselves, or shutting down the social media presence. (We don't want virtual ghost towns out there.)

Department areas that create social media presences need to let their department chair and department web administrator know the pages exist.

Photography, Visual Image and Concept Ideas Release Form

• Photography, Visual Image and Concept Ideas Release Form (You will be required to login to your CSUN account to obtain the form.)

A note about typography/fonts: Most of the fonts associated with CSUN branding are licensed fonts, but the branding platform includes several common fonts, such as Georgia and Helvetica, which you can use for most publications. If you have a need to stylize in such a way that you wish to secure the licensed fonts, please contact Jean O'Sullivan at 7127.

Calendaring in Web One: When you create your events, be sure share them with other relevant campus calendars.

News Sharing in Web One: Select Web One Essentials User Guide for instructions on sharing news stories with other areas of campus.

The CSUN IT Web One Training Page leads to video tutorials and user guides.

Q: What if I need Creative Services such as hiring someone to build a website or make marketing materials for my center, program or initiative?

A: CSUN Marketing and Communications can provide graphic and web design for a fee.  Contact Jean O'Sullivan, HHD Public Affairs/Communications about making requests.

Q: How do I get new paper stationery?

A: Stationery featuring CSUN branding can now be ordered directly through Quick Copies/Reprographics. By now we should be retiring stationery with the old wordmark and using the official CSUN branding.

Q: Do I have to go through HHD to get my information to University Marketing and Communications?

A: No, but we do need to be in the loop. When sending requests for coverage to Advancement or Marketing & Communications, Please cc me,  --for any press release, or publication. And remember, if you have an event coming up that is open to the public, have your web publisher put it on the calendar, and tag as well as open sharing with other campus areas.

Q: Do I have to get approval from the dean's office before I put out a publication?

A: If you aren't sure whether your document is ready for publication, please contact me at extension 7127, or send an email to .

Q: What about Universal Design and ADA compliance?

A: Each department's web publisher keeps department sites up to date and is responsible for keeping the sites user friendly.  Web One is structured to make this easy, so don't try to "break the template" and you should be okay. If you have questions, the CSUN Universal Design Center has tutorials, information, and the latest news to keep you in compliance.

Q: Can I post a pdf or video without applying Universal Design principles?

A: No. If you don't know how to make your post compliant, the Universal Design Center is ready to assist.

Q: Can I abbreviate the name of the college?

A: For internal audiences, an abbreviation is okay, but use "HHD" rather than "CHHD" to keep use consistent. For external audiences, please write out the name of the college on promotional materials and in webpages for at least the first iteration, i.e., Health and Human Development (HHD).

The credo of the College of Health and Human Development is that we are here “to Enhance, Enrich, and Empower, the Human Experience.”  An optional tagline is the statement, “We are the College of Life.”

CSUN Identity Platform:

Users should always use the CSUN Identity Platform https://www.csun.edu/identity and should keep in mind the scheme of the CSUN Rise Arrow when incorporating the Giant Sequoia into design.  https://www.csun.edu/identity/design-guidelines

A Note about Color:

The official color of the College is forest green. This is the color of commencement tassels and which is sometimes used in-house as an accent color to signify the identity of the college. In any outward facing communications, colors should be selected from the color palette to be found under “Design Guidelines” on the CSUN identity platform: https://www.csun.edu/identity .