Liberal Arts Undergraduate Studies employs more than two dozen students across its various offices, including Academic Advising, the Career Enrichment Network, the Chaiken Center for Student Success, Digital Pedagogies and Initiatives, the Paterno Fellows Program, the Office of Strategic Communications, and Undergraduate Recruitment.
You represent the College of the Liberal Arts as an employee, which means you are asked to follow the same strategic communications guidelines as other employees when creating communications materials for your unit, and you have access to the same resources to help you do that. The following resources are meant to guide you in the creation of promotional materials, events, social media, and more. If you have questions about any of this, please reach out to Kathy Swidwa or Kirsten Smith in the Office of Strategic Communications.
University Editorial Style
Maintaining editorial consistency in University communications is critical to the overall strength of the Penn State brand. If you have any questions about editorial style, visit the Editorial Standards section of the Brand Book. Here are some editorial-style reminders:
- Days of the week and months should be spelled out.
- Times should be written as 9:00–10:00 a.m. EST.
- Use noon instead of 12:00 p.m.
- Time ranges should include an en dash (–) instead of a hyphen (-).
- Names of majors and minors should be capitalized.
- Spell out “and” instead of using an ampersand (&), unless in a company name.
- Course titles should not include a colon. For example, ECON 397 Economics of Crime.
Visual Branding Standards
Visual branding consistency is equally important as editorial consistency. When you’re creating promotional materials, you must use Colors and Fonts from the Brand Book. If you’re using the college’s shared Canva account (see below), the approved colors and fonts are the default options, which makes it easy to stand on brand. All designs should include one of the Signature Blues—Pennsylvania Sky, Beaver Blue, Nittany Navy—as the primary color. Accent palette colors should be secondary and in support of the Signature Blues.
You’ll most likely be creating digital promotional materials as opposed to printed promotional materials. For digital materials, use the Roboto or Proxima Nova font families. For printed materials, use Serifa for headings and Proxima Nova for paragraph text. These are all in the shared Canva account.
Shared Canva Account
All Liberal Arts employees who are responsible for creating promotional materials for their unit may utilize the Office of Strategic Communications’ paid Canva account. Canva is an online graphic design website that makes creating flyers, posters, programs, social media posts, etc., super easy. Learn more about how to use the shared Canva account. Please email Kirsten Smith or the login information.
Event Promotion
If you are planning an event on behalf of your Liberal Arts unit, please follow the steps below.
- Write an event description that follows University editorial style.
- Add the event to the college events calendar.
- Create social media graphics. Share those graphics with Kirsten Smith in the Office of Strategic Communications, and ask her to post them on social media. You really shouldn’t need to create a flyer for the event unless you’re planning to print the flyer and hang it around campus. Flyers should not be shared on social media, in emails, in Canvas, or in the college events calendar, so if you’re just planning to promote your event digitally, just create a simple graphic that can accompany a short description of the event.
- Submit the event to the undergraduate newswire.
- Submit the event to the digital signs.
Social Media
If you are responsible for managing social media content for your Liberal Arts unit, it’s important for you to work closely with the Office of Strategic Communications. Remember to follow University editorial style and visual branding standards.