College Web Guy

Web people in large organizations come in two types: those who conjure up identity and branding policies (for better or for worse) and those who live under them.

Let’s don’t even call them policies. We’re talking about rules. Plain and simple. These rules serve as fences that attempt to unify (herd is more descriptive) the public face of an organization. Design free-for-all, anarchy and chaos rein in the absence of standards.

But I never thought I’d end up being one of “those” people who sits around dreaming up web branding policy. I’m usually the guy trying to work within/around restraints. Not the one doing the restraining. So there’s a great deal of motivation to get this right; to allow for variety within a set of guidelines.

In my limited experience with universities, I’ve found this ratio to be true:

For every 1 site owner upset about restricted design freedom, there are 15 site owners who just want a solid foundation and framework to work within. They are generally thankful. …appreciative for not having to start from scratch, tie up departmental development time and resources, much less worry about branding requirements. They can focus on providing relevant, fresh content and not be hassled with the myriad other aspects of building and maintaining a web site. But it’s those 1 out of 15 site owners that you spend the most time on. And I sympathize with them, so I want to help create policy that’ll give them room to stretch. But how?

I’ve been pilfering through dozens and dozens of university web branding guidelines lately. I’ll attempt to categorize them:

1. Nazi Web Branding Guidelines - these go overboard and spell out almost everything in excruciating detail. “Do this and only this and nothing more, or else. They are heavy with information about enforcement, and more than once will point out that the chancellor himself has mandated it so.

2. The Helpful and Supportive Web Branding Guidelines - These read more like “we’re providing this service to the campus and we’re going to bend over backwards in providing documentation and assistance. Here is everything you need. You’d be a fool to try and do this all on your own, for reasons A, B, and C. ” These guidelines don’t read like The Ten Commandments. They read like a self help book. I’m partial to this format.

3. The Loose, Lax, Almost Anything is Acceptable, Web Branding Guidelines - “All is well, so long as our logo is somewhere “above the fold” and links back to the university homepage, and it would be nice if you used these colors, errr, somewhere.” The draftee of these guidelines, almost always someone from a print background, isn’t overly familiar with web development and doesn’t have the stones to tell web developers what to do, or is simply afraid of departmental backlash over compliance issues.

But the question still remains, and it will always be an issue:

How can university-wide branding and identity policy avoid stifling the colleges and departments within that university, some of which have very elevated ideas of their own individual identity? If you’ve figured that one out, I’d like a few minutes of your time.

Maybe the key is to draft general web guidelines of the “loose, lax” variety and allow the 1/15 site owner of the bigshot variety to do for the most part as they please, so long as they adhere to a set of branding/standards/accessibility guidelines. But the bar for those guidelines, while high, isn’t necessarily a mandatory “template”. Simultaneously you provide well-built, attractive solutions that are always guaranteed to fall in line with standards. …templates that use top-level style sheets and includes. Sites that allow for future change.

If that mixture of policy and “provisions” is brewed correctly, I predict site owners will see the benefits of being on board, vs the price of going it alone. Like the lonely antelope, they begin to ascertain the benefits of staying with the herd.

A Great Resource:

PebbleRoad: Creating & Maintaining a Web Style Guide

“Having a rigid system will not work, but knowing the principles and their boundaries will ensure that your website is in tune with the many structural and visual changes that can benefit users.

A web style guide is closely related to branding. And the two brand-related situations where it can be used are shown below:

Branded-house: Here the parent company brand permeates business units (e.g. Philips, LG, Yamaha). The guidelines in this case can be more controlled.

House-of-brands: Here the parent company’s business units are brand in themselves (Clorox – Hidden Valley Ranch, etc.). The guidelines can be more flexible in this case, allowing for each brand to shine on its own and at the same time keeping the parent relationship just about apparent.

As can be seen, at one extreme you’ll want a tight integration with the parent brand, and at the other, you’ll want only a passing mention. And if you’re somewhere in between, you’ll want a balance. Whatever the case may be, a style guide can help contribute to the brand framework.”