Accessibility Guidelines
To best comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and the April 2024 Department of Justice ruling, the Office of Communications is no longer accepting PDF documents on the College of Education website.
For faculty and staff who wish to use PDF or Word documents outside the College website—such as for coursework or instructional materials—our office has provided the following resources to help with branding and accessibility.
- Brand the document according to Purdue’s Brand Guidelines – ensure both fonts and colors are compliant with brand guidelines.
- Make the document accessible – Review Purdue’s Innovative Learning Accessibility Checklist webpage. The following resources will also help you in creating accessible documents:
Branding Guidelines
To request an official Purdue logo, College of Education/Center/Department co-brand, or College of Education Program graphic treatment – for print or digital use – email the Office of Communications.
Please remember that the College of Education’s messages and materials should always align with the Purdue Brand Guidelines.
See Purdue Brand Studio’s Visual Identity webpage for guidelines on colors, fonts, and graphic element usage.
It is essential that our communication pieces use the correct “co-brand logos” provided by the University. A co-brand is a recognized logo (“Purdue University”) plus a “type treatment” (text) of a recognized unit associated with it (“College of Education”). Purdue Brand Studio only allows these for Purdue’s Colleges, Schools, and recognized official research Centers and Institutes. All other units may not use a co-brand other than the College’s.
You may be using an old, outdated, unofficial “logo” or “graphic”, so before using it or reordering brochures, letterhead, swag or display items, check to see if you are using the current co-brand. Use the guidelines below, Purdue Brand Guidelines, Purdue Brand Studio’s Visual Identity webpage, or email the Office of Communications.
NOTE that Purdue Brand Studio will not allow you to use an old logo or graphic, or the Purdue logo improperly, or the Purdue “Motion P” alone on any background, or your own created “logo” or co-brand. Check with the Director of Communication to see if your visual is usable or not, or to request an approved “co-brand” from Purdue Brand Studio (where approved).
You may request a graphic treatment from the Office of Communication which must be approved by Purdue Brand Studio before you may use it for any official purpose, swag order, publicity, etc. Email the Office of Communications with questions.
Co-brand Logos
These are the official College co-brand logos:
College of Education co-brand logo side-by-side

College of Education co-brand logo stacked

Below are various approved downloadable options for use.
College Logos
For Print
For Digital
College of Education – Stacked (JPG)
College of Education – Stacked (PNG)
Department Logos
For Print
For Digital
- Curriculum & Instruction – Side-by-side (JPG)
- Curriculum & Instruction – Side-by-side (PNG)
- Curriculum & Instruction – Stacked (JPG)
- Curriculum & Instruction – Stacked (PNG)
- Educational Studies – Side-by-side (JPG)
- Educational Studies – Side-by-side (PNG)
- Educational Studies – Stacked (JPG)
- Educational Studies – Stacked (PNG)
Logo Guidelines
View the Purdue Brand Guidelines about how to use the right file type, color mode and file format.
There are specific university guidelines about which logos we can use as an academic unit. Just because it is on the Internet and easily copied doesn’t mean it can be used!
Fonts
Typography is a robust vehicle for our brand voice and contributes to how our messages are read and communicated.
- Acumin Pro is our sans-serif family and a workhorse for our communications.
- United Sans adds a rigid and collegiate accent.
- Source Serif Pro, our serif family, performs well at small sizes, in longer-form text and in more sophisticated applications.
Used together, these three typefaces create a clear hierarchy and keep our content legible and engaging. These fonts are available to all users with an Adobe Cloud license, see the font installation page for more information.
Official University Fonts
Acumin Pro
Use this family of fonts for headlines, subheads, callouts and body copy
United Sans
Use this font for callouts, factoids, and numerals, and adding special emphasis
Source Serif Pro
Use this font for sophisticated headlines, subheads, and body copy
See Purdue Brand Studio’s Visual Identity page for more information.
Alternate System Fonts
Our brand typefaces may not always be available to everyone for use in Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and other digital applications. In these situations, use the alternate fonts listed here, which are freely available on all computers.
- The substitute for Acumin Pro: Franklin Gothic
- The substitute for United Sans: Impact
- The substitute for Source Serif Pro: Georgia
Display Items
We have several display items you may check out and borrow for a limited time. Please reserve in plenty of time as demand can be high at certain times during the year by emailing the Director of Communications. The items are Purdue University-branded and display the approved College of Education “co-brand” logo.
8′ black tablecloth, 13′ black tablecloth, 3′ table stand, 6′ floor stand, 6×12′ photo “step’n’repeat” photo backdrop, digital photo frame with stand
Letterhead
Download the official College of Education Letterhead.
Examples of tabbing/spacing using various letterhead:
Promotional Items/“Swag”
The Office of Communications has a general supply of commonly used and properly branded “swag” items you may purchase with a Purdue account number. These are not free. Email the College receptionist, Ashley Luzadder, for a list of the available items and to request an appointment to choose, pay for and pick up your items.
If you’d like to develop your own swag items, email the Director of Communications, DeEtte Starr. In order to comply with Purdue brand standards and trademark policy, departments and academic units must use an approved Purdue licensee and follow the use guidelines and the standards within the University’s brand manual. Approved Purdue vendors will not produce your items without permission from Marketing & Communications.
Templates
Below are a few templates that you can use to create brochures, flyers, and PowerPoint presentations.
Brochures
PowerPoint
- Research Poster Template
- Standard Black Template (1024 × 768 px)
- Widescreen Black Template (1920 × 1080 px)
- Standard Gold Template (1024 × 768 px)
- Widescreen Gold Template (1920 × 1080 px)
Virtual Meeting Backgrounds
Web
It is important that we maintain a cohesive design and consistent navigation throughout the College site. Continuity provides a more meaningful user experience and reinforces key messages about who we are and the work we do.
New Websites
If you would like a new webpage on the College of Education domain (www.education.purdue.edu), please note that the Office of Communications will develop or support only websites that belong to the College of Education web framework: departments, academic programs, official research centers, institutes, offices, and labs. The College’s web development staff will work with you to coordinate implementation and content development – submit a New Project Request.
Related websites that the Office of Communications will not support or develop for the College website include faculty websites, grant/project websites, courses, and student organizations. For these related websites, email the Office of Communications for recommendations of freelancers you may hire for website development.
Below are some general guidelines for faculty websites, grant/project websites, courses, and student organizations:
- For personal faculty websites, faculty are encouraged to use an external non-Purdue system so the site will follow them if they happen to leave Purdue or retire, and their site will not be subject to Purdue service cancellations or disruptions.
- For Purdue research projects, faculty are encouraged to request a WordPress site from the central Purdue IT “web services” group.
Below are some examples of College of Education WordPress research/project websites hosted by Purdue IT (note that they are using the education.purdue.edu domain, which is like having them in the main EDU website, yet they are hosted by Purdue IT):
Existing Websites, News, and Events
The Office of Communications is committed to keeping our College websites up-to-date and accurate. If you need to update information on a page for which you are responsible, or if you see an error on the site, submit a New Project Request.
PDFs and other documents
The Office of Communications is no longer accepting PDF documents on the College of Education website. See the Accessibility Guidelines section for more information.
News
To request a news story to be written, submit a New Project Request and choose News Story Request from the dropdown menu, then complete the form with your information. The Office of Communications will contact you about this.
Event Calendar
To add an event to the College of Education Calendar, complete a New Project Request – Event Calendar Submission, then add your event information and submit the form. If you have a graphic or image, please attach it. If you’d like us to also submit it to the Purdue University Events Calendar, add that information to the College Event Calendar Submission request.
We also have Display Items for you to check out and borrow and Swag available for purchase (contact Ashley Luzadder with an account number to charge it to).
Profile Headshots
All photos submitted to the College website are subject to Office of Communications approval.
If you have a good-quality, current photo (no more than five years old) on our website directory, we may use it if it meets the following headshot requirements:
- current color photo
- jpg format
- centered and front view of full face, with some space ABOVE head
- standard headshot (head and shoulders)
- simple background
- proper lighting
- eyes open and visible
- wear prescription glasses if you normally do so
- high quality (or resolution) photo size (2 MB)
- Do not send photos of you with a hat, sunglasses or other items that obscure the face; severe glare on glasses; shadows; other visible people or objects in the photo; inappropriate expressions.
If you don’t have a good-quality, current photo, you may use this FREE option offered by the University: Purdue faculty, staff, and students may have a professional headshot taken at their convenience in a self-service portrait booth in the Boilermaker Station Welcome Center in Stewart Center, Room 102. The booth is available without an appointment Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The self-service portrait booth:
- Features high-quality studio lighting and photography equipment
- Allows users to approve or retake photos and displays tips on posing
- Instantly delivers digital images via email
After having a new portrait photo taken, please:
- update the College’s online directory by submitting an IT Help ticket.
- update your faculty profile on the College website by submitting a New Project Request and attaching the new portrait photo.
Boilerplate Language
This is short, standard language that briefly describes the institution and its priorities. This should be used without alteration in any document including, for example, grant proposals, materials created for events or by outside organizations partnering with the College of Education, on promotional materials for specific programs or offices/institutes.
College of Education: Purdue’s College of Education meets the challenges of educating 21st century learners by discovering what works in education. The College prepares highly qualified educators and conducts research that informs how teachers teach and students learn. With a focus on integrated P-12 STEM education and a commitment to the success of all students, graduates are prepared to be leaders in education, business and society. We offer a small college experience in a Big Ten environment. We launch Boilermaker Educators!
Purdue University: Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 107,000 students study at Purdue across multiple campuses, locations and modalities, including more than 58,000 at our main campus in West Lafayette and Indianapolis. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of #TheNextGiantLeap, including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes, and the One Health initiative (see Purdue’s Strategic Initiatives.)




