Student Life Communications

Design Requests

Fill these out as thoroughly and accurately as possible. Remember the following information:

1. 1. 1. The only official way to submit a request is through the webform. Office drop-ins, hall stops, emails, or Teams messages are not a valid form of request.
      2. Design requests are now available quarterly:

   Quarter	Timing	In-Hand Dates	Submissions Open	Submissions Close
   Q1	Beginning of the spring semester	January 10-March 31	October 1	November 6
   Q2	Second half of the spring semester and summer projects	April 1-July 31	December 14	January 29
   Q3	Beginning of the fall semester	August 1-September 30	April 1	June 5
   Q4	Second half of the fall semester and Winter Break	October 1-January 10	June 22	July 31

   1. 1. Kickoff meetings will be scheduled as needed once the submission window closes each quarter. That meeting will be used to go over missing information for requests, social media plans, and production time expectations.
      2. Submitting multiple deliverables with one request is supported and encouraged if you are able to provide the necessary details for each deliverable.
      3. If you are planning a new event or are unsure of your marketing needs, please reach out to schedule a meeting with the Student Life Communications Manager where you’ll talk more about your visions for the project. We love a good brainstorm!
      4. If this is a request for the Student Life website, please use the Website Request Form as the information for each form is different.

   Please contact the Student Life Communications Manager, Mariah Patrick at [email protected] if you have any questions.

Website Requests

1. Web page requests must be completely filled out.
2. Web page requests must be submitted with all of the required content.
3. Web page requests must be submitted at least one full week before you would like it to go live.

Use AP style when writing material for bulk emails or our website. The Texas A&M Marketing and Communications websites includes an Editorial Style Guide for our use. Please take time to review these resources before drafting copy. If you need more specific guidance on AP style, let the Communications team know and we can get you that information.

Photo Use

Image Release Form

Faculty and staff must have a Media Release Form completed by each individual that is identifiable in videos and/or photographs before content is used. Any content made available by the Division of Marketing & Communications already has completed release forms. The Marketing and Communications team have a digitized form to collect these details as necessary. Please get in touch with us if you have questions or need the form.

Avoiding Copyright Infringement

We prefer that you utilize our extensive and up-to-date photo repository on the Student Life Flickr, but in the rare instance we don’t have what you need, be aware of the rules of copyright infringement.

Pulling any image off Google (or any other search engine) for use in social media or publications is generally frowned upon/may be illegal use. A large portion of the internet’s photos are not public domain and many photographers take copyright infringements very seriously and have no problem going after individuals or companies that use their photos without 1) permission, or 2) attribution.

There are things that you can do to find images that are free to use!

Regarding Google, or other search engines, when searching for images click ‘Settings’ right under the search bar and then ‘Advanced Search.’ At the bottom of the page, under ‘Usage Rights’ choose ‘free to use, share, or modify, even commercially’ and then click the button to search. You’ll notice that your choices get much more limited, but at least you know you can use them.

There are a ton of free stock photo websites. Some great examples: Unsplash, Pixabay, FoodiesFeed, ReShot, and Pexels. Don’t forget about the TAMU Photo Repository! Here’s a great post with some more links to free sites. Bookmark one, bookmark them all, make a neat little cheat sheet if you wish.

My general rule of thumb: if you are questioning whether or not the photo you are wanting to use falls under the CC0 license, pick a different one. If you still want to use it, make sure attribute the photo to the photographer (and make sure you credit the correct person).

You can read more about creative commons licensing here: creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0