WMU’s Student Center Digital Signage is used to celebrate student or faculty/staff achievements and promote university activities, events, and educational opportunities by providing well-produced, eye-catching advertisements to a large internal audience and visitors with the goals of improving communication across campus, increasing attendance at events, and informing the campus community of university news.
Contents of all Digital Signage under university authority must comply with local, state, and federal laws and with WMU’s policies, rules, and regulations. The Student Center assumes responsibility for ensuring full compliance with guidelines. Thus, in responding to requests to authorize a specific announcement, Student Center staff reserves the right and sole discretion to edit or delete text of any material submitted for broadcasting.
Announcement text/content must be submitted to Student Center for approval – electronically at https://wmich.edu/student-center/reservation (Digital Signage link) – at least five (5) business days before the scheduled broadcast. Priority will be given to requests in order of submission. Broadcast announcements may run for a maximum of two (2) weeks, or until the promoted event/program ends, whichever is first.
Content must be informative, courteous, accurate, fair, and not defamatory.
Announcements of upcoming events or programs must include the time, place, and location of the event/program and must include the sponsoring organization(s).
Announcements may only be requested by recognized WMU student organizations and/or departments (e.g. RSOs, academic programs, and campus departments). All Digital Signage content must relate to WMU’s campus and to campus activities and events. All announced events/programs must be scheduled to take place in the Student Center or Kanley Chapel.
Student Center staff may, in their sole discretion, allow exceptions to this location restriction for large-scale, campus-wide events such as athletic events, WMU Admissions programs, and events related to campus-wide deadlines such as academic registration, etc.
Acceptable Content:
Student Center staff will only accept content which meets the parameters set forth above, such as:
- Announcements relating to significant student or faculty/staff achievements, awards, or accomplishments
- Event information for upcoming activities sponsored or coordinated by WMU
- Event information for upcoming activities sponsored or coordinated by recognized alumni and/or student organizations/clubs
- Event information for activities to be held in or at WMU, although hosted or sponsored by an approved organization not otherwise affiliated with WMU.
- Results of academic competitions (e.g., a congratulatory listing of winners)
- Upcoming deadline information for nominations, scholarship applications, event reservations, etc., which are related to WMU-approved programs
- Information regarding new programs, courses, or services available to WMU students and/or faculty
- Welcoming statements for special guests or groups visiting WMU
- Emergency notifications from University Communications or WMU Public Safety
Unacceptable Content:
Student Center staff will not approve content which does not meet the above
parameters, including but not limited to:
- Classified ads (cars/apartments/bicycles/computers, etc.)
- Personal messages (one person to another)
- Political statements relating to campus, local, statewide, or national elections
- Promotion of alcohol, drugs, or tobacco
- Defamatory messaging or statements toward any culture, group, organization, cause, individual, or other
Creating Your Digital Graphic(s)
WMU’s Visual Identity Guide may be a helpful resource.
For the indoor television screens, please create all digital graphic(s) in a horizontal/landscape format for best quality. The specific pixel dimensions should be at minimum 1920 x 1080 (16:9).
A font size of at least 24pt is recommended for text on indoor screens.
For the outdoor marquees, please create all digital graphic(s) in a vertical/portrait format for best quality. The specific pixel dimensions should be at minimum 240 x 180 (4:3).
A font size 65pt or larger is recommended for text on the outdoor marquees.
OUTDOOR MARQUEE NOTE: Logos and images may not translate well to the marquee display. The simpler the image or logo, the better its likely appearance on the Marquee. The Digital Signage resolution limitations require simple, bold text or type. It is best to avoid light, condensed, or ornate fonts with thin lines or fonts with delicate serifs (even in larger sizes) because they are difficult to read on the Marquee.
Stretched or pixelated images will not show clearly and will not be posted on the digital screens.
Video submissions are accepted but must contain no audio.
Naming Files
Please follow the naming system below for the file name of your digital graphic(s):
EventName_MM-DD-YY (Start Post Date) _MM-DD-YY (End Post Date)
Example: SampleEvent_09-06-23_09-20-23
The Start Post Date should be the day you want the digital graphic(s) to start playing. (In the above example, the graphic will begin playing the morning of September 6, 2023.)
The End Post Date is the day that you would like your digital graphic(s) to be removed from the system. All graphics run until the end of the day unless noted otherwise. (In the above example, the graphic will be removed at 11:59pm on September 20, 2023.)
Design Requests
If you would like to broadcast a message but do not have a graphic to submit, you may request that the Student Center staff create graphic on your behalf. Student Center staff will have sole discretion re: the content and design of any graphics they create.
Design Requests must be submitted via the Student Center Electronic Marquee Request Form at least two (2) weeks prior to the scheduled broadcast. Student Center does not guarantee its completion of any Design Request submitted less than two (2) weeks before the scheduled broadcast.
To submit a request, provide your desired text and two or three colors you would like Student Center to incorporate into your design. For specific color requests, please include HEX codes or RGB values.
Still images and logos may also be submitted and must be in the following formats:
PNG, JPG, GIF, BMP (in RGB color format, NOT CMYK)
NOTE: Logos and images may not translate well to the outdoor marquee display. The simpler the image or logo the better it will appear. The Student Center has the right to refrain from using an image or logo if it does not present effectively.
The Student Center Graduate Assistant, or designer, will create and place the requested announcement within the parameters of the marquee software; each design must be reviewed and approved by Student Center management before broadcast. Student Center will attempt to contact you (the requester) to communicate any changes or text edits, to the extent possible, given the constraints of time and resources. If your submission is not approved, you will be notified.
Submission Procedures
Please submit graphics as: PNG, JPG/JPEG, BMP, or MP4
Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) and WMU departments wishing to broadcast an announcement must complete the online Student Center Electronic Marquee Request Form
Broadcast announcements may run for a maximum of two (2) weeks, or until the promoted event/program ends, whichever is first.
Submit your digital graphic(s) at least five (5) business days before the date you want your announcement to begin broadcasting. In some cases, Student Center may be able to begin broadcasting to Student Center’s internal TVs sooner than five business days, but does not guarantee that. Note: New announcements/displays will not be uploaded in the evenings or over weekends.
Student Center does not guarantee that any request to broadcast an announcement on the Student Center Electronic Marquee will be granted. Student Center has sole discretion to to grant or deny any request, for any reason or no reason. When Student Center receives more requests than it can reasonably grant, it will prioritize requests made by Student Center staff, WSA, and WMU registered student organizations, in conformance with established policies and procedures. In such circumstances, the Student Center staff may also, in its sole discretion, reduce the requested frequency of some or all scheduled broadcasts and/or move announcements from the Marquee to select monitors within the Student Center.
The content of all announcements and postings on WMU Student Center Digital Signage is determined by Student Center staff, in their sole discretion. Student Center staff will not broadcast any material that violates WMU’s Student Code of Conduct or any local, state, or federal laws, or any WMU policy, rule, or regulation.