Style and Content Guidebook
For anyone who designs, writes, or develops content for the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering, an understanding of our style and content guidelines helps us to promote professionalism, consistency, and who we are.
Upholding professionalism, consistency, and excellence
We want to project of vision of our College that is professional, consistent, and upholds the excellence which we stand for.
Prospective students and faculty members want to be a part of the best engineering college in the world, and displaying professional consistency in our various media supports that effort.


It is a common misconception that style and content best practices, like branding, are only about using the logo correctly. As long as we don’t make it purple and add racing tires we’re fine right?
Branding is more of an overall catchword for all of the ways that we use style and content to present ourselves to the different audiences we serve. It is not simply our logo, but it is how we look, how we write, and even if our webpages are consistent from one to the next.
The Colorado State University Brand website puts it best: “Our brand is not our logo, advertising campaign, identity system, or set of talking points. Our brand is the stories, experiences, and attributes that define Colorado State University.”
We’re here to help with projects, and it’s not our intent to get in the way. Collaboration is a wonderful thing for everyone in the College, and we want to help all of us succeed.
Accessibility
Accessibility Guidelines
WCAG Guidelines
Types of disabilities
Creating accessible content
Assets
Logos and Marks
Visual Brand Language (VBL)
Print and PowerPoint Templates
Color
Standard colors
Color models
Accessibility
Readability
Colors in text and design
Design
Design objectives & typography
Visual Brand Language (VBL) PDF
Responsive & Accessible web design
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
Web objects & page layout
Print and PowerPoint Templates
Images
Print vs. web images
Image guidelines
Standards and copyright
File format and color space
File size and resolution
Using icons
Web Standards
Web development process
Wordpress and Multisite
Outdated technology
Web best practices
Writing
Define writing "style"
WSCOE default writing style
CSU writing style
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Content guidelines & branding
Contact Us
Web Operations and Communications
The Web Operations and Communications teams oversee the technical and content website requirements for the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering. On this page you can submit a project, send a support ticket, and contact both technical and content-oriented team members.
Other Helpful Websites
CSU Branding Website
Colorado State University has an entire website dedicated to supporting the brand and style efforts of staff, faculty, and students. Many of the Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering default settings are based on information provided by Creative Services.
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the standards organization that creates guidelines for HTML, CSS, and other web technologies.
WordPress
WordPress is the content management system adopted by the College for nearly all of its needs. The main website, along with many department and internal websites, were created with WordPress.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
WCAG sets technical standards designed to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. We are working towards our goal of having a fully accessible website.