FAQ

Submit a request using the Community Request Form. This helps us capture critical details and enters your request into our project management system. If we have capacity for your work and it meets our established criteria, we may follow up with a kickoff or discovery call to fill in any gaps, clarify details, and establish next steps. 

For lockups, we need 5 business days following receipt and acceptance of your request.  

For other graphics and marketing collateral, it depends on the complexity of the request. As a very general guide, it’s helpful to work backwards: 

Add 1–2 weeks for small, conventional runs (eg., 500 three-panel brochures; 1K postcards) and 2–4 weeks for larger and more complex runs. Specialty finishes such as short folds, die cuts, and varnishes—in addition to supply chain issues in the printing industry—will also increase production time.  

Add 3-7 days.

We can’t efficiently or effectively design without the needed assets! If copywriting, photography, or illustration are not ready to go at the time of your request, you will need to add those elements to your timeline. Complex projects can take several months to complete. 

After we have accepted your project, we are always happy to provide an accurate timeline based on your specific project parameters. 

Avoid them if possible. Feel free to ask, but please understand that we simply may not have the capacity to turn around work that is needed within one–two weeks. In general, the more time you can allow, the better. 

Nothing! We don’t charge for our time.  

You are responsible for all “out-of-pocket” costs: stock artwork, supplies, fees, production material, printing, and external contractors. Costs will be shared prior to purchase.

No. Promotional items, merchandise, and apparel are reviewed and approved through Trademarks & Licensing.

You can find photos in the UC Photo Catalog.

Our brand rules are outlined in UC brand guidelines. If you have any questions beyond the guide, or need some clarity, reach out! 

Programs and units of the university are not permitted their own logos. This rule has been in effect since 2001 and was instituted to strengthen and unify the UC brand. In 2016, a logo lockup system was adopted, allowing units and programs to attach their names to the primary mark.  

If you have departmental approval for a lockup, yes. Submit a request using this form.  

Be aware that lockups are not allowed for every communication. For example, lockups are great for things like promotional items, but they aren’t permitted on letterhead, on landing pages, in email signatures, or in conjunction with other lockups or the institutional logo. In addition to the rules provided, you should always consider lockup usage through the lens of your audience(s): Will the UC logo or your college lockup make more sense to your audience than your program lockup? A lockup, while useful, should not be considered a replacement for promotion and communication. You are always welcome to type out the name of your group—you are not obligated to express your identity in lockup form.  

For additional information on lockups, check out the UC brand guidelines. 

No. Bitmapped file formats, such as jpg, gif, and png, degrade when enlarged. While we understand it can be frustrating to try to work with a file that doesn’t seem to cooperate, EPS files are a best-practice standard—they can be scaled infinitely without any loss of quality. 

The good news is you don’t need to directly open the EPS. You can import it into your Microsoft document.  

insert > picture > picture from file > navigate to the EPS   

You will then be able to position, resize, and use as needed.  

No. To preserve consistency, and to maintain a central depository for all approved lockups, our office is solely responsible for creating lockups. We understand that you may be entirely capable, but your cooperation and support of the approved process is appreciated. 

In addition to capacity limitations, we have established criteria that guides the type of work we accept. Our focus is on collateral related to high-impact, campus-wide initiatives—supporting recruitment, reputation, reach, and the priorities identified in President Pinto’s strategic direction. 

First, check out our templates to see if there’s something appropriate for your project. You may be able to knock the work out yourselves!  

If that’s not the case, we recommend that you contact Printing Services—they have built-in familiarity with both the UC brand and industry-preferred design tools.  

If neither of those options work, you are certainly free to contract with an outside freelancer or creative recruiter. When you do work with an outside designer, please be aware that university brand guidelines still apply. Make sure that your designer is familiar with UC brand guidelines—and agrees to follow them! All UC communication is subject to Brand Committee review and any changes required to meet branding rules will add both time and expense to your project. 

It's a good idea to notify Marketing + Communications of your plan to contract with an external resource. We are always willing to answer questions and provide guidance. 

We are working on expanding our templates, and we may include some templates in Word in the future. That said, Word is a word processor, not a design application. Even if you are an expert in Word, it’s simply not the appropriate tool for sophisticated collateral. We encourage you to consider contracting a designer to either help you make sense of the templates, or to create a custom solution.  

We are happy to provide our native (original) files to your outside designer. To locate the files, we need: 

• the job number 
• an approximate delivery date 
• the name of the designer you worked with 
• a contact name from your team (if it was not you) and 
• a digital proof of the work (PDF) with its original file name unchanged 

However, please note that we do not hold on to work indefinitely. If the job is more than five years old, we may no longer have it.