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 […]
June 29, 2010
brand, brand report, college, creative, design, higher ed, marketing, may, michigan, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur, web, website, website redesign
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 […]
June 28, 2010
flint, Google, higher ed, marketing, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur, web
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 […]
June 24, 2010
brand, college, creative, creativity, education, fastest growing, flint, graphics, higher ed, marketing, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur
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 […]
June 11, 2010
analytics, facebook, marketing, social media, social media report, twitter, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur, web, youtube
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 […]
June 7, 2010
brand, creativity, education, higher ed, marketing, u of m flint, um-flint, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur
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. […]
June 3, 2010
brand, college, conceptual thinking, creativity, degree, education, fastest growing, flint, higher ed, marketing, social media, thinking conceptually, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur, web
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 […]
June 2, 2010
body text, comic sans, design, fonts, marketing, pairing fonts, papyrus, titling, typeface, typography, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur, web
With the list of social media outlets seemingly increasing by the day, many have a hard time deciding where to start. Which social media platform is right for you? With so many options, where should you focus your energy? One tool, which I’ll discuss below, is Twitter. An Introduction to Twitter I am often asked, […]
May 26, 2010
marketing, michigan, social media, twitter, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur, web
During the many years I spent as a TV reporter, I wrote and edited about 15,000 stories. While considering many things when writing the stories, I never considered keywords. Now, with most of my writing ending up on the Web, I’m finding out that one of the things I need to do is pay attention to […]
May 24, 2010
content, Google, keywords, marketing, u of m flint, um-flint, umflint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, web, writing for the web
Month Requested Completed Cancelled % for Completions # of Departments April, 2010 23 18 1 78% 10 April was a month filled with new identities for various areas at UM-Flint. The UM-Flint catalog received a new and refreshed look, designed by our newest temporary staff member, Joyce ElHayek. Joyce just graduated with her Fine Arts […]
May 19, 2010
brand, college, creative, creativity, design, higher ed, identities, identity, inspiration, marketing, michigan, trends, u of m flint, um-flint, university, university of michigan flint, university relations, ur, web, website