LSU has a fan base of millions, inclusive of alumni, students, family, and friends. As a result, there is a tremendous amount of LSU Tiger fan-generated video content on the internet. LSU has set a few brand standards for official videos to ensure they are recognized as official LSU communiqués. When you are creating video content for your unit, the following brand components must be included:
Accessibility Requirements
All brand compliant LSU videos must be accessible with the inclusion of either closed captioning or by providing a written transcript of the audio. This includes videos posted on social media and YouTube. Most social media platforms provide automatic captioning, but it is important to manually check the accuracy of these captions after your video is posted.
LSU Logo Bug
A gold LSU logo must be placed on the lower right-hand corner of the screen, within the title safe area, for the entire duration of your video. This is called the LSU bug. For brand consistency, we have an LSU bug file that is scaled and positioned for you to overlay on your video (shown below). This may not be replaced with your unit signature.
LSU Logo End Card
The LSU logo is also required to be the last screen of your video. This is called the LSU end card. For brand consistency, we have an LSU end card file that is scaled and positioned for you to overlay on your video (shown at right).
If you choose, you may incorporate your department or unit name by using your official LSU signature to create a custom end screen. All custom end screens must be scaled so that the LSU logo portion of your signature, at a minimum, is the same size as the LSU logo in the LSU end card. Download the end card to use as a guide.
Lower Thirds
The captions used to identify people, locations, or otherwise provide context on screen are called the lower thirds. This is another opportunity to brand official LSU video content. The following typographic standards should be applied for your video’s lower thirds.
LSU lower thirds are typically two-tiered but can be three-tiered. This means that there are two to three levels possible, with each level having a specific typographic style.
- The first tier should consist of only one line of text. In most cases, the first tier is a person's name.
- Use Proxima Nova Bold set in all capital letters at approximately 60 pixels high.
- The second tier can be multiple lines of text, but more than two would be unusual. This tier is used to explain the first tier and is usually a title, department, or some other identifier for the person or featured subject matter.
- Use Proxima Nova Regular at approximately 30 pixels high, or roughly half the height of the first tier text.
- For small amounts of copy, use all capital letters. If your second tier consists of multiple lines of text, you should use uppercase and lowercase letters for better legibility.
- Consider the length of time your information will be on screen when composing second and third tier information. Make sure it’s not more information than an average person can read in the time allotted.
- Lower thirds may be located in any corner of the title-safe area. (In spite of the name, they are not restricted to the lower portion of the screen.)
- LSU lower thirds should always be white with a soft drop shadow as shown in the illustration below.
- Soft drop shadow settings in Adobe software (see inset image below for example):
Mode: Multiply Opacity: 60% X Offset: 0 pxY Offset: 0 px Blur: 10 px Color: Black (Hexadecimal #000000)
In this illustration the lower thirds consists of the name, Stewart Locket, on the first tier, and the title, LSU Student Body President, on the second tier. Note the pink rectangle indicating the title-safe area. The title safe visibility feature can be turned on with most editing software to ensure proper text placement within the video.