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Monthly video round-up for October 2014

November 4, 2014 by

Each month I highlight some of the videos posted to the Missouri State University YouTube channel. The goal of these monthly posts is to share the great production work being done by the staff and student videographers in the office of web and new media, as well as videos produced by other units on campus.

Please feel free to share and embed these videos on your websites and social media presences where appropriate.

Become a leader in information systems in MS CIS program

The Master of Science in Computer Information Systems program at Missouri State not only helps students develop advanced IS skills, but also IS leadership.

This video was produced by web and new media for the College of Business.

Changing the world with shoes

Lora Hobbs, the founder of Sole Food and a senior instructor in religious studies at Missouri State University, explains how one pair of shoes donated to Missouri State’s community engagement project, Stomp Out Hunger, can feed four people, provide shoes for someone in a developing country and support clean water initiatives.

This video was produced by web and new media.

Uncovering the secrets of lightning

Like many people, Julie Barnum remembers feeling frightened by storms as a child. “I was terrified of thunder,” she says, “but I’d still run out and go look at what was happening.”

This video was produced by the office of web and new media.

Production services

Please visit our Video Services page if you are interested in having our office produce a video for your University unit or department.

Monthly video round-up for August 2014

September 2, 2014 by

Please feel free to share and embed these videos on your websites and social media presences where appropriate.

President Smart’s Instagram video series

To welcome students back to campus this fall, the office of web and new media worked with President Smart to develop a short Instagram video series. The seven-video series focused on key Welcome Weekend activities and “must-do’s” for new and returning students alike.

See the videos on the President’s blog along with comments from students and others on campus.

What’s New at MSU 2013-14

2013-14 was a great year for Missouri State. From impressive new facilities to achievements of our students and faculty, we have a lot of good news to share.

This video was produced by Ozarks Public Television for the office of the president.

60 Seconds of Welcome Weekend

Three days and 15+ events in just 60 seconds. This video is a quick round-up of Welcome Weekend festivities.

This video was produced by web and new media for the office of student engagement.

Experience the MSU College of Business

When you’re in a place that’s right for you, you just know it. The Missouri State College of Business wants to help you find that feeling on our campus.

This video was produced by the office of web and new media for the College of Business.

Graduate student aids professor in grapevine research

While many students are passionate about the inner workings of plants, few get to work side-by-side with a professor and participate in groundbreaking research. LeAnn Hubbert, a plant science and agriculture graduate student, has been working closely with Dr. Wenping Qiu, a research professor in the William H. Darr School of Agriculture.

This video was produced by the division of marketing and communications for the spotlight system.

Taking a new look at the needs of cancer patients

Third time’s the charm for junior Kirby Williams – at least when it comes to deciding on a major. The former pre-law, political science major turned chemistry student has found a new place in the psychology department and within a new field: psycho-oncology.

This video was produced by the office of university communications for My Place at Missouri State.

Production services

Please visit our Video Services page if you are interested in having our office produce a video for your University unit or department.

New projected course offerings system makes long-term planning simpler

October 14, 2013 by Lucie Amberg

Academic websites will now feature the projected course offerings system instead of course rotations. In addition to the new name, the new system offers substantial benefits.

Benefits for students

The courses are projected up to three years into the future, making it easier to tentatively plan class schedules over multiple semesters.
The new system provides a number of search options, including departmental prefix, periodicity, modality and course number.

Benefits for administrators

Maintenance and organization are much simpler because the new system automatically pulls from main stores of University data instead of relying on manually updated spreadsheets or PDFs.
This new mode of delivery cuts down on questions and confusion by providing a more seamless user experience. When students have questions about upcoming course options, they can now use the filters in the projected course offerings system to find the information they need.

Changes to Facebook Pages

March 8, 2012 by

Facebook recently announced some major changes to pages, most importantly that all brand pages will now mimic the timeline layout that has been available for Facebook profiles for some time. Facebook will be automatically changing all pages to this new format on March 30, so it is definitely time to make the change now and get your page ready for this new format.

Here is a screenshot of the Missouri State University Facebook page; I’d suggest using this page as a reference point when updating your page to the new format.

Important new features

You can now include a large cover picture at the top of your page. The dimensions for this image are 851 x 315 pixels. It is also worth noting that Facebook will not allow contact information, calls to action or references to other Facebook features to be included in this image.
It is also possible to now arrange and feature your applications in the small images below the cover picture. The dimensions for these custom application images are 111 x 74 pixels.
You can now ‘pin’ a status update, so that it stays at the top of your timeline for up to a week. This is a great feature if there is a single update or post you’d like to feature on your page.
Since your page is based upon a timeline, you can can now add milestones to that timeline. For an example, click on the ‘Founded’ link on the right of the Missouri State page. These milestones can include text and an image to tell the story of what your institution or department has done through the years.

Other Facebook features specific to Missouri State

It is important that all Missouri State Facebook pages be branded in a similar fashion and ensure they link and interact with one another. While these methods of interacting with other Missouri State pages are not required, it is recommended that you do the following on your pages:

When posting about something having to do with the University, make sure you include the @ symbol before you type in ‘Missouri State University.’ This will create a link to the Missouri State Facebook page from your update, and will also pull your update onto the Missouri State Facebook page.
You should be liking and adding to your page’s favorites the Missouri State Facebook page and others on campus; these Likes appear in a box on the right side of the timeline on your page.

Other resources

Here are a few posts from other sites that show best practices and other page examples for this new timeline format:

New color palette available

June 15, 2010 by

Along with the redesign a new color palette for the University’s marketing efforts is available. This will allow for a wider variety of color on Missouri State websites while still maintaining unity across the site and with printed publications.

In addition, with the launch of the new web design, a new maroon will be used. This maroon is the RGB match to the printed CMYK color. This maroon provides a warmer, richer look and allows graphics to be more easily shared between print publications and web designs.

The new maroon color:

#5E0009

R:94 G:0 B:9

The full color palette:

#B9AB98	R:185 G:171 B:152
#DC9228	R:220 G:146 B:40
#FFEEBB	R:255 B:238 B187
#D9DA55	R:217 G:218 B:85
#788E1E	R:120 G:142 B:30
#0667AC	R:0 G:103 B:172
#00395A	R:0 G:57 B:90
#CCDEF0	R:204 G:222 B:240
#BEC0C2	R:190 G:192 B:194

A few best practices for color palette usage on the web:

These colors are not to be used for body text color, but can be used as headers.
These colors will be in use across the entire Missouri State site, but the there is a specific emphasis in areas of recruitment.
Use of tints and shades of these colors is acceptable.
It is a good idea in terms of design to choose a few a colors to use consistently across your site. Without consistency your site can become overwhelming and look unprofessional. Use color as accents.

Finally, I’ve made available the RGB color palette file for use in Adobe programs. You can download this file and load it into your swatches palette.

Directions to loading a swatches file into your Adobe programs:

In Photoshop:
Download the zip file from this blog post to your computer and unzip the file. On your swatches pallet in Photoshop, click the drop down menu at the top right of the pallet. Choose “Load Swatches”.
Choose the file RGB-colorpalette.ase.

In Illustrator:
Download the zip file from this blog post to your computer and unzip the file. On your swatches pallet, click the drop down menu at the top right of the pallet. Choose “Open Swatch Library”. Choose the file RGB-colorpalette.ase. The swatch library will open in a new pallet.

REG-ColorPalette.ase