UMBC Video Guidelines

As campus messaging grows to include video produced by multiple departments, this section is meant to give guiding principles for tone, visuals, and representation of our campus community.

In our imagery, we should strive to show an authentic UMBC experience that gives our audience a true sense of place. All video and animation should be developed considering our inclusive culture, innovative teaching and learning, research across disciplines, and civic engagement. We should avoid video of lone subjects, but instead show people working together, and whenever possible, diverse groups should be captured. Best practices for lower thirds, opening titles, and end cards are outlined below.

Any questions regarding video creation should be directed to University Communications and Marketing’s video producer by emailing videoproduction@umbc.edu.

Existing Video Assets

Videos produced by UMBC are made available, when deemed necessary, on the UMBCTube YouTube page. This page is managed both by OIA and the New Media Studio as the primary video platform for UMBC.  Through that page, you may embed videos on websites, show to our community at large or embed in Google Sheets presentations. If you need to download these files for a specific presentation, digital signage, or other usage, please email videoproduction@umbc.edu. Please DO NOT download videos directly from YouTube via a third party website or page. These files will not be of high quality, and may contain errors. These video files are considered final, and no editing should be made to them for outside usage. Questions regarding changes and/or additions to this page may be made at videoproduction@umbc.edu.

New Video Assets

If you or your department would like assistance with a new video, please contact University Communications and Marketing’s video producer by emailing videoproduction@umbc.edu, or New Media Studio at newmediastudio@umbc.edu, to determine the course that makes most sense for your project.

Use of Logo in Video

All uses of the logo in video should be in accordance with the UMBC Branding & Style Guide at styleguide.umbc.edu/umbc-logos/. 

Lower Thirds Notations

When using lower thirds in UMBC-produced video, university alumni notation guidelines should be followed. However, because the space is limited, a name may be presented with grad years only. For example:
  • Mary Smith ’94 OR Mary Smith ’94, biological sciences
  • Bill Perez, M.A. ’02 OR Bill Perez, M.A. ’02, English
  • Wanda Jones ’02, Ph.D. ’09 OR Wanda Jones ’02, political science, Ph.D. ’09, public policy
These styles, along with university styles related to honorifics (Dr., etc.), apply whether using the first or second line of a lower third. Read more about alumni notation guidelines here.

Sharing UMBC-owned Video

When sharing UMBC-owned video with external partners, videos should be shared in the following way:

  • For videos that will be viewed embedded on web pages, or used in social media, please share original YouTube, Facebook, or other links and ask partners to embed the original video shared by UMBC. This allows UMBC to control viewing, to delete, or otherwise set video to private if any issues arise in the future and aggregates views to our social channels instead of partner sites. Additionally, this ensures that UMBC videos have the proper captioning and descriptions that were originally intended for the videos.
  • For use in meetings (virtual or in-person) or other styles of playback where viewers are not able to access playback controls themselves, original files may be shared with partners.
  • Original files of UMBC videos may not be uploaded, re-posted, or otherwise changed/modified without permission of the original video creator. In no circumstance should a video be downloaded from a social media website, or YouTube. Please contact the video creator to access the original files.

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