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Minding the Brand: Is Your Professional ID on Brand?

It’s a wonderful time of year as we get to interact directly with our clientele and represent Ohio State University Extension at fairs, camps, and many other programs this summer! Our physical presence in the counties is so important to fulfilling the land-grant mission of Ohio State via CFAES.

As you connect with people in person and start working on new programs for the fall and winter, it’s also a good time to take a few minutes and make sure your “professional presence” is on point in other ways. This means double checking if you are presenting your name and your connection to Extension, the college, and the university appropriately on basic materials. Are you wearing your name badge? Is your business card and other stationery current? Are you using an approved email signature?

Ohio State has specific guidelines and templates for these materials, which make it straightforward to create a brand-correct version of each item. As the university says, expressing ourselves consistently across all of our individual offices reinforces the Ohio State brand – and the Extension presence throughout the state. Visit brand.osu.edu/brand-guidelines/templates-tools/stationery to learn more and access instructions and appropriate templates for each.

While it is tempting, you should not create your own “interpretation” of any of these pieces. You also will notice that the university logo is used on all stationery across the system, except in a few unique circumstances. There are other more appropriate times and ways for us to use the Extension mark. If you have questions about how the Extension name, your county office, or unit identification should be presented on these items, contact Cheryl at buck.19@osu.edu to confirm our basic expectations.

Also, this is a reminder that UniPrint is the only outlet via which to prepare and order your business cards and stationery, including electronic formats. Visit uniprint.osu.edu for more information.

Replacement name badges can be ordered via UniPrint by an employee’s home unit. There are some Extension-specific guidelines for information to appear on your name badge; read more at extops.cfaes.ohio-state.edu/about-operations/mind-brand/name-badges before you place an order. Note: the Extension Operations team orders name badges for NEW employees – which will be delivered to the new employee’s office by their start date.

Email signatures are equally important. Note that only the Ohio State logo is allowed on email signatures, and only one promotional graphic should be used with an email signature at any time. There are no current campaigns via Extension for images or statements that can be added to your signature; but there are some general university-level campaign images that are available for your use. Please review the guidelines and use the email generator available at brand.osu.edu/brand-guidelines/templates-tools/email-signatures.

In summary…review your email signature to make sure it meets the current specifications; double check the info on your business card before you (re)print; and make sure any stationery you use is created via the official Ohio State templates.

Please use the tools that have been created by Ohio State and are pre-approved for use. The hard work has already been done for you! Think of it this way – the goal is to provide you with “plug and play” materials. You don’t have to be a brand expert to be on brand with the basic elements that represent you on paper.

While we greatly appreciate the creativity of our Extension professionals in creating unique and impactful programs, connecting with local clientele, and managing our multitude of office functions across the state – when it comes to these basic “professional presence” materials, we must let the university be our creative lead.

Thank you again for what you each are doing to help us all keep Minding the Brand on behalf of Extension. You truly are helping us put our best food forward as an organization with a consistent, cohesive representation of us as the outreach arm of the college.

Stay tuned…More to come soon on specific promotional materials, infographics you can personalize for your county, and some general Minding the Brand office hours.