Student Affairs Marketing services are available to units and offices within Pitt Student Affairs.
- Student Affairs Television Screens
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Student Affairs Television Screens offer advertising to Pitt affiliates. We operate approximately 30 digital screens across the William Pitt Union, Cathedral of Learning, O’Hara Student Center and residence halls.
The primary purpose of the Student Affairs TV Screen system is to promote events, programs, and services sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh departments and certified student organizations that enable Pitt students to fully engage in campus life.
Student Affairs departments can request to have their marketing materials added to these screens by selecting “Horizontal Digital TV Screen” when submitting an intake request form. If the department does not require graphic design services, submit the marketing materials.
Submission Guidelines:
- Criteria: The Division of Student Affairs has sole responsibility and authority for approval and posting of all content on the digital signs in the William Pitt Union, the Cathedral of Learning ground floor, and the residence halls. Content must directly support the mission, vision, and values of Student Affairs, as well as the purpose of promoting University of Pittsburgh events, programs, and services. Content depicting violence or weapons, sexually explicit material, illegal activities, alcohol, or profanity will not be permitted. All content must clearly name the sponsoring organization. Sponsoring organizations or departments may have a maximum of two (2) submitted items running on the screens at any given time.
- Content: There are two types of content that can be displayed: slides or videos. Content must be designed in a professional manner. The submitter accepts responsibility for the accuracy of content, and that they have appropriate permission to use any copyrighted material (if applicable). We can not display videos or slides containing copyrighted material. Student Affairs reserves the right to make editorial and format changes for all submissions. Videos will not be displayed for more than three weeks. Slides will not be displayed for more than one month.
- Format: Flyers must be submitted as a JPEG or PNG and MUST have a 16×9 aspect ratio in order to maximize the horizontal dimensions of the TV screens. Videos may be submitted in either standard or high definition, must have open captioning, and be in the .mov or .mp4 format with audio levels reaching no more than -6dB. Videos may not be longer than 60 seconds in length. File names should end with the date that you would like the file removed. For example, a file being removed September 15 might be named “Event Title_Sept 15.jpg”.
- Submission: To guarantee that content is displayed during your requested time, items should be uploaded to the Pitt Box service on the TV Screen webpage at least one (1) week in advance of the requested posting date. If you have any questions please send an e-mail to smoser@pitt.edu.
- Submit Content for Student Affairs TV Screens: Be sure to read all of the submission guidelines before submitting.
- Photography
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There are a variety of types of photography that our office can produce. It is always beneficial to have a goal or purpose when asking for a photographer. This can help determine what style and type of shot the photographer produces.
All video and photography requests can be made through the project request form.
Here are some common types of photography we produce:
- Event coverage: A photographer will attend your event, service, or activity and capture photos to be used at a future time.
- Headshots: They can be taken at an event or in a scheduled time in our studio. Headshots include photo retouching as well.
- Staged Shots: These shots required a pre-meeting to discuss what the goal is, any props that will be needed and what equipment will be required. This include photo editing.
- Flickr: Select photos from events will appear on the Student Affairs’ Flickr Page, which is an online collection of photo albums chronicling Student Affairs events. They can be found here.
Photo/Video Release Forms: At most events, signs will be posted announcing photography and/or videography is being taken. It is up to the individual to let the photographer and/or videographer know if they do not wish to be photographed or videoed. For staged shots and video interviews individuals will be asked to sign release forms allowing their images and interview to be used by Student Affairs Marketing and Communications Office and/or the Department of University Communications.
- Video
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Use the marketing intake form for all photo and video needs, from overview videos to headshots.
Let us know the purpose of your video. For us to better serve you, let us know where it will be displayed, and for what purpose.
Schedule Photo Shoots in Advance: Even if you’re just scheduling headshots or group shots that should theoretically take a few minutes, our schedules are full and complicated, and we want to make sure that someone will be available for your shoot. Scheduling a photoshoot for two days from now, with a deadline for the edited photos for three days from now, might not be doable for us if we have a lot of other projects and deadlines.
At least two weeks in advance so we have time to prepare, make sure all the correct equipment will be ready to use that day, make sure videographers are available that day, and overall ensure that the shoot happens as smoothly as possible. A lot goes into preparing for a shoot, even if the shoot itself takes only a few minutes.
Know that preparing for a shoot takes time. Also know that equipment setups for recording b-roll (supporting footage) and interviews (both indoors and outdoors) are very different from each other, even if they might look very similar.
Last-minute changes to plans may be difficult for the videographer to accommodate. Particularly for recap videos and highlights with no talktrack, all editing is done to the soundtrack. Asking us to change the soundtrack toward the end of the process is asking us to re-edit the entire video.
If you have music preferences, let us know in advance.
- Newsletter
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Our office sends a weekly newsletter and four content-specific emails to provide personalized communication to students.
Newsletter: Each Tuesday, the Student Affairs Newsletter provides students and staff with timely events and relevant resources.
Career: A weekly email focused on upcoming career and networking opportunities.
Community: A bi-weekly email that promotes community engagement through community service, sustainability, education, and more.
Wellness + Recreation: A bi-weekly email consisting of information about Campus Recreation activities, such as intramural sports, group exercise, and facility hours and updates. It also includes health and wellness information.
- Website
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Request an edit to the Student Affairs website.
- Graphic Design
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We look forward to working with you to develop creative and effective visual materials to promote your event, program, or service. Our goal is to ensure quality branding for the University, the division, and your respective office.
Here are some guidelines to keep in mind when submitting design requests.
For materials that were produced previously by our office and only require minimal edits—requests should be submitted two weeks in advance at a minimum for printed flyers, posters, and foam boards.
For more extensive requests and new projects involving printed brochures, banners, “swag” material, t-shirts, and full marketing campaigns, please allow at least one month turnaround, to ensure there is time for concept development, approval and printing.
New concepts and ideas for visuals are encouraged, but please be mindful of the complexity of the idea and the time constraints.
All text should be submitted at the time of the request through the project request system; you may include the content in the field on the request form or by uploading files.
Nothing will be sent to print or displayed digitally without final approval from the client. Please make sure you are proofreading thoroughly for typos, grammatical errors and inconsistencies.
PowerPoint Presentation Templates: New templates have been designed to assist you in developing quality PowerPoint presentations. They can be found on the division’s shared drive at: SA Shared—Divisional Information—Logos and Marketing Info—Power Point Templates. If you would like a custom title slide for your department please utilize the new Project Request System and work with Sam.
Letterhead/Business Cards: The University of Pittsburgh requires all divisions, departments, programs, services, and staff to utilize standardized letterhead and business cards. The University does not permit customized letterhead or business cards.
Therefore, all Student Affairs departmental electronic letterhead can be found at: SA Shared—Divisional Information—Logos and Marketing Info—Letterhead.
All University business cards should be ordered through the Department of Communications Services.
Division and Department Logos: Student Affairs departmental logos can be found at: SA Shared—Divisional Information—Logos and Marketing Info. Specialized logos, icons, badges, and wordmarks can be developed for programs and services (not departments) by utilizing the Project Request Form.
OCC Logo: While our office will design promotional materials for Student Affairs staff, any student organization or department outside of the division who wants to utilize the OCC goal area icons on their marketing materials should adhere to the following guidelines:
Visit the OCC subsite
Place the icon in the top right corner of printed flyers, digital TV screens, and all other advertisements posted online or on social media outlets.
The icon is 1.5” in width and height. Retain this size on all advertisements. When placing, the icon’s edge should be a minimum of 0.25” inches from the top and right margin of the page.
Keep goal area icon separate and not overlapping or under other text.
Please contact Amy Vaught (amy.vaught@pitt.edu) to make arrangements for OCC credit.
Pitt Script Logo: In order to be in compliance with University and Student Affairs usage policies, please coordinate ALL use of the Pitt Script logo with Marketing and Communications.
For a full list of graphic design services, please see the online submission form.
- News Media Inquiries and Coverage
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If you are contacted by a member of the news media requesting an interview with you, including The Pitt News, WPTS, or any off-campus new agency, please follow these procedures:
Please forward all media requests directly to Janine Fisher, Director of Marketing and Communications to be coordinated through the MC office.
We want to accommodate the media as best we can in a prompt and professional manner.
Initiating News Media Coverage: If you have a good story idea about a program or person that you would like to see publicized by the news media, please work with Janine to coordinate coverage. Please do not contact the media personally. The marketing and communications team works closely with the University Communications staff to pitch story ideas and disseminate information to assignment editors and reporters, using the following tools:
- The Student Affairs electronic newsletter
- Press releases sent to news media
- PittWire, the University’s new daily electronic newsletter sent to students, faculty, and staff
- The front page of the Student Affairs Web site
- Multiple social media feeds sponsored by Student Affairs and Pitt (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube)
- Through personal contact via phone or e-mail
- TV screens in the William Pitt Union, Cathedral of Learning and Residence Halls