Guidelines
Usage rights
Photographers always retain copyright of the photographs they take. When hiring a photographer, it’s important to ensure you negotiate the correct usage rights. The Children’s Center Marketing Department has an agency photography service agreement that should be used when contracting with a photographer.
Download The Children’s Center Photography Service Agreement
Image & quote releases
Subjects must sign a release form before they provide quotes or are photographed for a project. This release gives The Children’s Center permission to use the photo and comments in any agency communication vehicle or any outside medium used to represent The Children’s Center. It acknowledges that the signatory understands that the information may be published and shown in public, and that there will be no compensation provided for its use.
Exterior signage
All permanent campus signage is authorized and determined by Campus Operations. The design generally consists of the logo and signature, the building name and address, and services located in respective buildings.
Interior signage
Agency offices sometimes need to produce interior signage. For service area offices and departments, the required typeface is Frutiger 57 Condensed, upper and lower case with initial caps.
For authorized configurations, contact Campus Operations or The Children’s Center Brand and Marketing Department.
You can use social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube to share information and build communities around common interests. The Children’s Center supports your participation in these online communities.
Please review our general recommendations for best practices in social media.
If you plan to use these channels on behalf of The Children’s Center, please contact The Children’s Center Marketing Department and ask to be added to The Children’s Center Social Media Team. You’ll have access to the group’s resource site, where you can find additional guidelines and tools to help you use these platforms effectively and follow agency policies.
General recommendations
Success in social media depends on several factors:
- Understanding that social channels are conversations, not bullhorns
- Being civil, honest, ethical and responsive
- Remembering that nothing is private on the Web
Best practices
Listen. Spend time listening before you start posting. What issues are on the minds of the people you want to reach? How do they feel about your area? The better you understand your audience, the more likely you are to post content that they will want to comment on or share.
Talk. Social media platforms are unique because it’s the interaction–comments, likes, retweets–that makes the content valuable. Be conversational, ask questions, thank people, comment on other people’s posts. Your participation makes you valuable.
Be accurate. Make sure that you have all the facts before you post. It’s better to verify information with a source first than to have to post a correction later. If you see a question or complaint online, it’s fine to say that you’re getting more information and will reply shortly. Cite and link to your sources whenever possible; after all, that’s how you build community.
If you make an error, correct it quickly and visibly. This will earn you respect in the online community.
Be aware of your impact. Social media often span traditional boundaries between professional and personal relationships. If you’ve ever identified yourself as part of the The Children’s Center community online, readers will associate you with the agency, even if you are posting from your own account. Use privacy settings to restrict personal information on otherwise public sites. Choose profile photos and avatars carefully. Be thoughtful about the type of photos you upload.
Be calm. If you feel angry or passionate about a subject, don’t post until you calm down. Even if your settings are “private,” posts and comments can be found, copied and forwarded. Archival systems save information even if you delete a post. If you wouldn’t say it publicly, don’t say it online.
Be valued. Don’t post information about topics like The Children’s Center events or a book you’ve authored unless you are sure it will be of interest to people who belong to that group. Self-promoting behavior is viewed negatively and can lead to you being banned.
Safe practices
Be yourself. Be honest about your identity. If you’re authorized by your director to represent The Children’s Center, say so. Never hide your identity or create a false identity for the purpose of promoting The Children’s Center. It’s both unethical and prohibited.
If you post about The Children’s Center on your personal time, identify yourself as a supporter or staff member. Say that you’re sharing your views as a member of the social services community, not as a formal representative of the agency. Use a disclaimer on your site or profile similar to this: “The views expressed here are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Children’s Center.”
If you blog or write online reviews, the Federal Trade Commission requires you to reveal if you have been compensated in any way–monetarily or in kind, such as a free copy of a book, dinner, or a complimentary admission–or have a relationship to a company, product or service you review.
Be respectful. You are more likely to achieve your goals or sway others to your beliefs if you are constructive and respectful while discussing a bad experience or disagreeing with a concept or person.
And, of course, it’s prohibited to initiate threats or harassment by using The Children’s Center computing resources to “transmit material or data that causes or encourages physical or mental abuse or that causes or encourages harassment, explicit or implied.”
Maintain confidentiality. Don’t post confidential or proprietary information about The Children’s Center, its clients, its alumni or your fellow employees. Use good ethical judgment and follow agency policies and federal requirements, such as FERPA, HIPPA and Health Information Security and Privacy.
If you discuss a situation involving individuals on a social media site, be sure that they cannot be identified. As a guideline, don’t post anything that you would not present at a conference.
Respect agency time and property. Agency computers and your work time are to be used for agency-related purposes. It’s appropriate to post at work if your comments are directly related to accomplishing work goals, such as seeking sources for information or working with others to resolve a problem. Limited personal use of computing resources is acceptable as long as it doesn’t violate any policies, but for the most part, you should maintain your personal sites on your own time using non-agency computers.
Be aware of liability. You’re legally liable for what you post on your own site and on the sites of others. Individual bloggers have been held liable for commentary deemed to be proprietary, copyrighted, defamatory, libelous or obscene (as defined by the courts). Employers are increasingly conducting Web searches on job candidates before extending offers. Be sure that what you post today will not come back to haunt you.
Using agency computing resources to threaten or harass anyone is a violation of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policies, which “forbids any unlawful harassment which includes any behavior (verbal, written, or physical) that abuses, assails, intimidates, demeans or victimizes or has the effect of creating a hostile environment for any person based on protected characteristics (i.e. race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, parental status, family relationship status, physical or mental disability, military status).” Violating any agency policy while using social media can trigger consequences under the Discipline Policy.
Follow a code of ethics. There are numerous codes of ethics for bloggers and other active participants in social media, all of which will help you participate responsibly in online communities. If you have your own social media site, you may wish to post your own code of ethics.
It’s easy to create videos for the web, but creating compelling video takes skill.
- Avoid talking heads; video is best for showing, not telling
- Be brief; no longer than three minutes.
- Be creative, but also be mindful of The Children’s Center brand
- Be sure you have good, clean sound
It’s important to comply with copyright and trademark law, agency policies, and intellectual property and licensing considerations before creating and publishing your video. Here are the steps to follow. We encourage you to contact The Children’s Center Brand and Marketing Department for support as you develop your video.
Use of The Children’s Center name and logo
If your video is produced on behalf of The Children’s Center or one of its service areas, it must contain the agency name and logo. You may include this in the closing credits. Please contact the The Children’s Center Brand and Marketing Department for an approved logo file.
- To protect our copyright, The Children’s Center logo and/or signature cannot be modified or animated in any way. If the logo fades in or out, the entire logo must fade together—the logo cannot be “built” out of pieces.
- The logo can move up, down or across the view screen.
- Don’t add a shadow or dimension to the logo or signature.
- Don’t tint the logo or signature.
- Don’t use different colors for part of the logo or for the logo and signature.
- Don’t use the logo or signature as a watermark (screened back behind other elements).
- Don’t use the logo to make a pattern.
Intellectual property
Ownership of any videos created on behalf of or while employed by The Children’s Center would be determined by the Discovery and Copyright Policy.
Music copyright
All music used in The Children’s Center videos must comply with copyright.
If you plan to purchase music, there are many royalty free stock music options found on the Web.
When purchasing usage rights for music, be sure to purchase the rights for all the distribution channels you might logically use. For example, usage rights for a video that will be uploaded to YouTube will be broader than rights to a video distributed via DVD or confined to the thechildrenscenter.com domain. It’s generally more expensive to go back to the distributor to purchase additional rights or to re-edit your video than to purchase all the rights you will need in the initial negotiation.
Photo copyright
All still photography used in The Children’s Center videos must comply with copyright.
Per agency policy, you must get permission on a per-project basis from The Children’s Center Marketing Department to use images commissioned and purchased by The Children’s Center. This includes but is not limited to The Children’s Center images on The Children’s Center website, images in recruitment and other print materials created by or in conjunction with The Children’s Center Brand and Marketing Department, and images in the photo archive (photo library) maintained by The Children’s Center Brand and Marketing Department. To request permission, contact The Children’s Center Brand and Marketing Department.
Photo releases
You must obtain a signed photo release for all clients (or caregivers for minors) and non-employees appearing in your video; you may download a photo release form. Keep these releases on file.
Web content is different from printed content – users scan pages more than they read pages. Break information into small chunks. Use bullets. Highlight key phrases. Also, keep in mind these guidelines:
Keep it short
- Use short sentences, simple words and short paragraphs
- Try to have just one idea per paragraph
- Use half the words you would in a brochure
Keep it simple
- Write as though you were speaking
- Cut welcoming text
- Be clear; avoid jargon
Make it scannable
- Put the most important information at the top of the page
- Put the most important idea in the first sentence of your paragraph
- Use bold text to emphasize key words and phrases
- Use headlines, subheads and bulleted lists
Be accurate
- Keep your content current
- Check your facts
- Spell-check and proofread your text
Use links wisely
- Make your links short and descriptive so users know where they will lead
- Don’t distract users with links that don’t enhance your message
- Most links should lead to other pages in your site, not to another site
More Web content guidelines can be found at usability.gov.
Writing
The following guidelines are intended to help writers and editors preparing copy for agency publications, resolve basic questions about style, and help maintain consistency across The Children’s Center communications. Please share them with outside vendors contracted to produce publications for The Children’s Center to ensure consistency of style.
For all matters of spelling, style and usage, please consult references in the following order:
- The Associated Press Stylebook
- Webster’s New World College Dictionary, fifth edition
- The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition
