Connecting to University Design Resources
Importance
Aligning with the Illinois brand promotes cohesion and consistency. It also helps to build trust with key university audiences. When we represent ourselves as one, both the brand and accompanying designs are strengthened.
Target Audience
Brand Guidance
Resources
Designer Listserv
Log into the University of Illinois mailing lists site using your campus login. You can browse through the index of lists to find the U. of I. Graphic Designers, or search for designers-l. Request access to the list. Requests are typically approved within a day. All workshops and events will be emailed to this listserv.
Design on Campus Teams Space
Access the Design on Campus Teams space. This community is for campus designers to get updates to brand standards, share events and inspiration, get feedback, ask questions about vendors, and post job opportunities. All workshops and events will be publicized on this channel.
Campus Creative Cloud Library
To help you implement the visual elements of the brand, we’ve created a Creative Cloud (CC) library for campus design assets. This library has the colors, logos and graphic elements pre-loaded so you can easily drag and drop into your designs. To request access to the CC Library, email branding@illinois.edu.
Adobe Express Templates
Adobe Express is similar to Canva. We’ve created several Adobe Express templates to help you get started. To request access, email branding@illinois.edu.
Contact
Michelle Frazier, Strategic Design Specialist, mf31@illinois.edu
Michael Vincent, Graphic Design Specialist, mbv@illinois.edu
Charlotte Peloquin, Designer, crp2@illinois.edu
Using the Block I Frame Template
Importance
The university brand contains several shared visual elements provided to help create a common connection while telling the wide array of stories represented by our university. The Block I frame is a simple and flexible way to display your images or content and visually tie to the Illinois brand.
We provide images of many iconic campus landmarks with this framing applied. They are in an adjustable Photoshop template and .PNG files for those who do not have access to Photoshop, or experience with the platform. This training will cover how to adjust the frame in provided photoshop files. For those who are familiar with creating and adjusting layer masks, you can use this information to make custom templates with any photos.
Target Audience
Definitions and Brand Guidance
How-To/Instructions
Adjusting the Block I frame Photoshop templates.
- To follow along, select and download the file named “Block I frame template – Alma Mater 1”in this box folder.
- Open the downloaded file in Photoshop.
- Locate your Layers Panel and select the layer named “adjust corner radius.”
- In your toolbar, click on the “Path Selection Tool” or press A on your keyboard for the tool’s shortcut.
- With the Path Selection Tool active, you should now see the shape framing Alma’s background highlighted and you’ll see a dot in the upper left corner of Alma’s background.
- Double click that dot, so that only one of the shape’s corners is selected. If you begin adjusting before double clicking, all corners will be affected.
- Using the path selection tool, you can increase the radius of the frame corner by pulling the dot further toward the center of the shape.
- Alternatively, you can decrease the radius of the frame corner by pulling the dot further toward the outside of the shape.
Tips and Tricks:
The Block I frame is meant to be very flexible, to meet a variety of uses.
Because of the wide array of design sizes and resolutions that you may be designing for, it’s impossible to give an exact radius measurement that will work perfectly for every use. Using our provided templates and examples as a reference, adjust the radius of your frame to best meet the needs of your project.
Keep in mind that the goal of using the Block I frame in your designs is to include a subtle reference to the shapes that form our iconic Block I logo. Try not to expand or reduce the radius of your corner so far that it isn’t visually comparable to our examples.
Example:
Additional Resources:
Block I Frame: Photoshop templates
Block I Frame: PNG images
Contact:
Michael Vincent, Senior Designer, mbv@illinois.edu