AIS Components

Brand

A foundational goal of AIS Components is to enable AIS developers to build branded, administrative applications. By aligning our applications with the brand, we can better serve our core audiences and make meaningful contributions to the University's mission. We want our applications to be friendly, effective, and efficient The Brand Manual highlights the importance of web properties in the following quote:

The audiences we reach are more likely to encounter the University of Iowa brand online than via any other medium. This makes delivering high-quality, effective, and consistent digital experiences critical to serving our varied audiences and achieving our institutional goals.

Our Context

The Brand Manual and the UI Design System (UIDS) are built by the Office of Strategic Communication. Their focus is promoting the University of Iowa and effectively communicating with constituents. The artifacts they produce (e.g. uiowa.edu and SiteNow) are bold, eye-catching, and media-rich. This is in contrast to our administrative applications, which are information dense and include little to no media. As a result we are building in parallel and hopefully in harmony with the UIDS team. It is our goal to implement the ideals of the Brand Manual for our administrative context.

Brand Manual

Take the time to become familiar with the UI Brand Manual -- particularly the first section "Our Brand". It contains important details that can guide us to build better applications for our customers. The manual defines important ideas like the brand promise, brand attributes, key audiences, messaging, and creative strategies. It's worth pulling out a few highlights and matching them to the administrative context.

Brand Promise

An efficient and effective administrative environment allows our customers to deliver and live the brand promise.

Only the University of Iowa delivers the opportunities of a Big Ten education in America’s most inviting college town, preparing Hawkeyes to work hard together and write new chapters of exploration, discovery, and engagement.

Brand Attributes

We already strive toward the brand attributes. Keeping these attributes in mind can help shape the details of our applications. What does it mean for an application to have these attributes? How can our applications help our customers to embody these attributes?

  • Sincere: genuine, caring, authentic
  • Dedicated: hardworking, committed, determined
  • Collaborative: collegial, cooperative, friendly

Messaging

The language we use in our applications is a primary point of contact with our customers. In some cases, it is our only contact with the customer. In our applications we are always trying to balance making our applications approachable for new users and efficient for our power users. We must strive to provide the right information at the right times. Often we fail in our messaging as we try to provide all details at once. It helps to remember that effective messages are:

  • Active. Avoid the passive voice, dull language, and run-on sentences.
  • Simple. Limit your use of adjectives and superlatives.
  • Concise. Keep sentences short, tight, and focused on the objective of your message.
  • Intentional. Understand your audience(s) and your unit’s goals. Use that understanding to guide your communications.
  • Clear. Avoid heavily academic or technical language in promotional or recruitment-driven materials.
  • Compelling. Look for opportunities to connect with your audience emotionally and move them to action.