Archive | June, 2010

UM-Flint Brand Update | May 2010 | Branding Department Websites

This month, UR spent a good deal of time and made a great deal of headway on our largest and most important ongoing project: the redesign of the UM-Flint website. For those faculty and staff members charged with maintaining their department’s website, the most eagerly anticipated aspect of the redesign process may well be the […]

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Everything Google Part II

The month of June finally included a winning bid for the UM-Flint :30 commercial through Google TV ads.  Previous attempts may have been too broad among television networks and programming.  Numerous bid options were tested, including variations in chosen networks, programming, times and bid levels. The decision was made to focus on eight networks with […]

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UM-Flint Creative Update | May 2010

It’s summertime and for the creative team that means working diligently on projects for the upcoming recruitment season for both undergraduate and graduate admissions. We have been working hard on designing a new look for our Graduate Admissions brochure series. This includes repackaging content and finding noteworthy talking points about each program. Using meaningful, thought-out […]

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The Website Redesign Process

In the upcoming months, work will be done to convert our current content management system over to a system called LiveSite. LiveSite will allow for much easier creation and maintenance of web pages, and with its implementation will come a new look for the entire university website. You’ve probably seen the screen shot of what […]

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Celebrate Independence Day in Flint

Where will you go to celebrate Independence Day? If you are planning to be in town, come to Downtown Flint and check out the “I Am Flint” Fourth of July Celebration.  This event takes place on July 3 and July 4, and will include a three-on-three basketball tournament, live entertainment, carnival attractions, and fireworks, of […]

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Is It Usable?

Finding the pain points in a site for a user is easier than you may think.  There are couple things that you can do to fairly quickly uncover the usability problems of your site or web app.

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UM-Flint Social Media Update | May 2010

Social Media Facts and Figures Below, a summary of our social media efforts in the month of May. Our Audience: The UM-Flint Twitter page (@umflint) has grown to 435. In May, UM-Flint’s Facebook fan page gained 68 fans (up to 3,560 from 3,492). As of April 2, the UM-Flint YouTube channel’s videos had been viewed […]

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Old Ideas About Older Audiences

I did it again. In a meeting, I used an example from the 1980s to illustrate a point.  This time, it was the Talking Heads’ David Byrne who wore a really big suit in the video for the song, “Girlfriend is Better.” Blank stares from all the twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings in the room.  What is […]

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Thinking Conceptually: UM-Flint’s “Fastest Growing” Video

One of the most important – and most difficult – tasks of any advertising, marketing, branding, or messaging effort is identifying and executing ways to communicate complex ideas as simply and immediately as possible. The tools and vehicles through which this is accomplished depend on the audience, and the best medium to reach that audience. […]

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Choosing & Pairing Fonts

Normally I talk about things like user experience, web design, and best practices for the web. In this  post I hope to shed some light on font issues and to offer some tips in choosing fonts for things like emails, “quick” signage, and reports. FIRST, MY RANT Everyone in our office knows that there are some […]

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