Importance
A consistent visual aesthetic helps in building a strong and memorable brand identity. This training will provide you with the tools to maximize the Illinois brand and enhance your university social media accounts’ aesthetics.
Target Audience
- Social Media
Brand Guidance
Crafting a Social Media Aesthetic
1. Unique Identities within the Illinois Brand
The Illinois brand platform establishes the foundation for all internal and external communications and marketing. It expresses both who we are and who we aspire to be and it should guide the messages, materials and communications we use to tell the Illinois story— including those on social media. Familiarize yourself with the brand essentials and brand platform.
Clearly define your unit or college’s identity within the Illinois brand. Who are your target audiences? What are your values? What unique selling points do you have? What are you known for? This will set the foundation for your visual aesthetic. Think about the emotions and messages you want to convey through your content.
2. Hail to the Orange, Hail to the Blue
Use of the university colors is one of the most effective visual communication tools we have at our disposal, and we want to leverage that as often as possible. Staying true to orange and blue in your visual aesthetic not only helps in building a strong and memorable online presence, but also provides a clear point of connection and community for our university audiences.
Implement university colors consistently across your social media platforms by:
- Using branded profile and cover photo templates on all accounts.
- Applying brand colors to graphics and other visual elements in your content.
- Including brand colors in the composition of your photography, including backgrounds, wardrobes, props or other objects in view.
- Using branded video assets in your video production.
When you consistently create and choose visual elements that include orange and blue, your social media accounts will reflect the clean, bright and vibrant aesthetic our university colors embody.
3. Consistency in Style
Every logo, wordmark, color, font and graphic you use on social media reflects your visual identity. Align your unit’s visual style to the Illinois brand.
Explore:
- How to use the university Block I logo.
- When and where to use the Illinois wordmarks.
- The university colors including primary, secondary and supporting colors.
- When and where to use the brand typefaces and fonts.
- Various brand graphic elements and iconography.
- How to tell a story with photography.
- How to tell a story with videography.
- Other resources include the image database, video database and brand downloads.
4. Practice Makes Perfect
When you begin making small changes to your social media content that reflect the Illinois brand, a compelling and memorable visual aesthetic will follow.
Start with one post.
One photo.
One video.
Then continue to choose visual elements that elevate the Illinois brand, and you will go from a few on-brand photos …
To a robust, vibrant and Illinois-centric visual aesthetic and social media feed.
For additional guidance on how to align your social media presence with the Illinois brand, visit the social media brand guidelines webpage. To explore successful examples of branded university accounts, refer to the Illinois Verified Accounts Directory.
Contact
Lea Peck, Associate Director of Social Media & Digital Strategy, leapeck2@illinois.edu