Ask the DSE Advisory Board Question of the Month
December 2013
Do you have a digital signage operating policy, including content development criteria, and if so, what are the key components?
The West Virginia University Information Stations digital signage network created Policy Statements from the beginning and periodically updates them as situations dictate. It covers such areas as:
- Purpose
- Scope
- Mission Statement
- Definitions
- Information Stations Staff
- Network Overview
- Content Creation Templates
- Content Design Specifications
- Content Design Elements
- Client Expectations
- Emergency Messaging
- Technical Support
- Installation
- Legacy Issues
With specific regard to “content development criteria” we maintain total editorial control of all content. If the university client (a college, department or sanctioned organization) has a professional designer on their staff, we assist that designer with exact criteria for all designs to be submitted for broadcast publication. All design elements must abide by standards established by the WVU Trademark & Licensing Department in an effort to protect the WVU brand and the exact branding elements. For the sake of standard and consistent design across all of our monitors in both horizontal and vertical aspect ratios, we have set the following criteria for design elements:
Horizontal Images
1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high
300 dpi
RGB
JPEG
Vertical Images
1080 pixels wide by 1920 high
300 dpi
RGB
JPEG
We maintain an addition digital signage platform that supports more than 350 campus student organizations. These are a series of vertical monitors located in the student union commons area called The Mountainlair. Since most of these student organizations are staffed by student volunteers with rudimentary content design skills we provide a more liberal approach to their designs, within reason. They still must abide by all trademark and licensing requirements. Our WVU Information Stations staff and associated administrators maintain editorial control of every design for appropriateness and brand protection.
Full-Page Graphics for WVU Student Organizations
1080 pixels wide by 1620 pixels high
300 dpi
RGB
JPEG
(WVU Student Organizations have a slightly different resolution to allow for a standard WVU Student Organizations banner across the bottom of each poster that associates that image to WVU Student Organizations governance.)
Other design elements that are regularly included in various pages of information and posters are:
- WVU Calendar of Events (University, college, department or student organization)
- RSS Feeds
- XML Feeds
- Text databases
- Photograph databases
- Videos
- Video databases
- Time
- Date
- Current and Extended Weather
Clients are required to maintain at least 8 current items in any database and items play based upon a beginning date and an ending date assigned to each item when uploading to our databases on easy to use template web forms. Standard IT security is observed for all databases and web forms with usage of individual client credentials at sign-in. All items created by the client must receive web form approval at the managerial level within their college or department before the item is published. All WVU Student Organizations designs must be approved by the Administrative Director of WVU Student Organizations.
All video walls have distinct design criteria based upon the unique video wall configuration. Video walls are installed at the WVU Visitors Center and the WVU Arts & Entertainment Box Offices.
All touch-screen Walls of Honor, Donor Walls and wayfinding deployments of digital signage are custom designed by the WVU Information Stations staff. Content design employing these technologies is determined by the needs of the client.
We design for over 100 digital signs spanning three campuses in Morgantown, WV and our digital signage network includes standard horizontal monitors, vertical monitors for several video walls and WVU Student Organizations, as well as large video walls and wayfinding applications.
Mountain Mists... 