Billboard guidelines
Images
For all queries and billboard designs/requests, contact the Digital Team.
Updated: March 2019
Images featuring caption text or designed text
Images of any size or type online (in-page images, banners, billboards) should not feature text designed into the image - text must always be 'real text' styled with html/css code in the University's approved web templates. The reasons for this are:
- To ensure effective accessibility and usability for all web users
- User tests show that not all web users pay attention to images, many in fact see images with text on as advertising/marketing and ignore them
- Some web users use screen readers which cannot read the text embedded into images (however screen readers can read real text, coded properly)
- Some web users turn off images so their browser will not display the images
- User tests show that images with designed text on them are ineffective on the web and the message is not understood effectively / call to action is not received and acted upon
Please note: The Digital Team do not support images with designed text and we do not produce them. We are legally required to maintain an accessible website and images used online with text embedded in the image do not meet accessibility guidelines.
Guidelines for accessible captions:
- Caption should only be entered in T4 approved carousel template
- Caption text should be no longer than one line
- Use sentence case only, eg News story headline should be written like this
- Punctuation not used unless essential. No full stop at the end of billboard caption; no exclamation marks; no quote marks (unless caption is a quote from a person and indicated as such with the person’s name)
- Dates to be written as per University style guide eg Monday 1 January 2016
- Use a call to action eg Book now for your ticket to this event
- Never use ‘click here’ in caption text
University homepage and main gateway pages
- 932 x 400 pixels
- 72 dpi
- jpeg file type
Responsive website carousels
- 930 x 500 pixels
- 72 dpi
- jpeg file type
Current student homepage
- 930 x 500 pixels
- 72 dpi
- jpeg file type
Current staff homepage
- 692 x 290 pixels
- 72 dpi
- jpeg file type
- High resolution original image, ideally 300 dpi
- At least 1mb file size
- Dimensions 1000 x 500 pixels minimum
- Tiff or jpeg file type
- Landscape orientation
- Composite/multiple images not allowed
- Image approval at Digital Team’s discretion
- Image should be photographic
- Illustrated graphics created by Design Studio or Digital Team can be used when appropriate and part of a campaign with other similarly designed promotional material
- Composite/multiple images not allowed
- Images or photos with white backgrounds may require a 1px grey keyline around the image to avoid ‘floating’ on the webpage, Digital Team will apply this
- Billboards with graphic text in the image not allowed (see above)
- Image approval at Digital Team’s discretion
- Caption text should be no longer than one line
- Caption should only be entered in carousel template, not as graphic text on image
- Use sentence case only, eg News story headline should be written like this
- Punctuation not used unless essential. No full stop at the end of billboard caption; no exclamation marks; no quote marks (unless caption is a quote from a person and indicated as such with the person’s name)
- Dates to be written as per University style guide eg Monday 1 January 2016
- Use a call to action eg Book now for your ticket to this event
- Never use ‘click here’ in caption text
- University of Exeter logo not required on billboards (it is in the header of the website on every page)
- Logos only to be used on billboard images when appropriate and/or required, eg sponsors, awards
- High quality logo image files only
- Positioning of logo on image done by Digital Team
- Position must avoid caption area at bottom edge of image
- Logo image files should be on transparent background, or white if not possible
- Usage of logos at Digital Team’s discretion