Student Guide for Submitting Content for the 2024 BFA Exhibition Website

Summary

To be included on the website, you must submit the following information, click the links for more details on each section:

• Exhibitor Information – fill in information on the web form
• Exhibitor Preview Image – submitted via the Box.com upload link on the web form
• Gallery Items
  • You man submit up to 10 Gallery Items of the following types. Click on each link for more information about how/what to submit for each
  • Gallery Item – Image (jpg or png)
  • Gallery Item – Video/Gif (gif or mp4)
  • Gallery Item – Coding (p5.js)
  • Gallery Item – Attached PDF (PDF + preview image)
  • Gallery Item – External Website (URL + preview image)
  • For each item you must fill out the corresponding Gallery Item Information section on the web form and upload the item to the Box.com folder (linked on web form). Make sure that the Gallery Item number matches the number in the file name.
  • All gallery item files should be named lastname_firstname_01, lastname_firstname_02, etc. where the number in the file name corresponds with the gallery item number on the form. Items will be displayed in numerical order on the Exhibitor Page (eg. arnold_will_01.jpg, arnold_will_02.mp4, etc.)

On the form, there is a link to a Box.com folder where you need to upload all of your files. Every submission requires the following files (see the sections below for detailed instructions on file formats):

• 1 – Exhibitor Preview Image – named lastname_firstname_preview
• Up to 10 – Gallery Items – named lastname_firstname_##
  • Code projects, PDFs, and External Website gallery items require an additional preview image named lastname_firstname_##_preview

All of the above files should be zipped into a single .ZIP file named lastname_firstname.zip

Exhibitor Information

This section will populate much of the information that will appear on your Exhibitor Page on the site. See the sample image for which information appears where.

Last Name/Family Name – as it appears in official University records

First Name – as it appears in official University records

Full Name – as you would like it to appear on the website

• Example
  • Last Name – Arnold
  • First Name – T. William
  • Full name as you would like it to appear on the website – Will Arnold

Programs – select your major. If you are a double major you may check multiple boxes. You will be listed on all of your majors’ program pages.

Artist / Designer Statement – a short description of your work generally or of the specific project you are presenting. There are no length limitations but we recommend something in the 100-200 word range. Be sure to have someone proof-read this for you!

Personal / Portfolio URL (optional) – your website URL if you have one. Should be formatted as the full URL with http:// (ie. http://www.yourdomain.com)

Social Media Accounts URL (optional) – link to as many of your social media feeds as you would like. This should also be formatted as the full URL of your profile page including “https://”

Example: If your instagram handle is @yourhandle, you should enter https://www.instagram.com/yourhandle/

You can view the sample exhibitor page live here: https://bfa.art.illinois.edu/2020/exhibitor/sydney-st-leger/

Exhibitor Preview Image

Please upload one exhibitor preview image that will appear as your featured image on the main exhibition page and the program pages. This should be a crop or a still of one of the projects featured on your Exhibitor Page. (Note, we will convert the image to black and white for the website)

• File Name: lastname_firstname_preview (eg. arnold_will_preview.jpg)
• File Format: jpg/png or 5 second max gif/mp4
  • If you submit a gif/mp4 you must also submit a still from it as a backup incase the video fails to load.
  • Name that file lastname_firstname_preview_still (eg. arnold_will_preview_still.jpg)
• Size: 1080px x 1080px

On the Program Page for each major, the site will randomly select the preview images from a random set of students within that major to display. These images will also link directly to the corresponding student’s Exhibitor Page. You can click the refresh button for a new random set of images/links. You can see the live program page here: https://bfa.art.illinois.edu/2020/major/graphic-design/

Gallery Item - Image

Information to Submit on the Web Form

• Title – Title of the work
• Medium– A description of the medium of the work (eg. “Digital Photograph”, “Charcoal Drawing”, “Ceramic Sculpture”, “Digital App Prototype” etc.)
• Year – What year was the work made? (eg. 2020)
• Dimensions (in inches) – Size of the work, if applicable (eg. 4″ x 6″ for a 2D object, or 6″ x 6″ x 8″ for a 3D object)
• Caption – Optional, an extra sentence or two describing the work
• External URL – Leave blank

 File Details

• File Name – lastname_firstname_## – where ## corresponds with the Gallery Item number on the web form
• File Format – JPEG / PNG / GIF
• Image Size
  • Landscape/square: 1600px width (height as needed for aspect ratio)
  • Portrait: 1200px height (width as needed for aspect ratio)
  • File size limit: 5mb
• sRGB colorspace
• Preview Image – not required

In Photoshop, you can easily resize your image. Go to Image > Image Size.  Set the units to “pixels“. For landscape orientation or square images, set the width to 1600 pixels (the height will automatically adjust). For portrait orientation, set the height to 1200 pixels (the width will automatically adjust. Make sure that “Resample” is checked and select “Automatic” from the drop down next to it.  For more details on the image resizing process, see the Adobe help pages for resizing images in Photoshop.

Pro tip: You can quickly batch edit the size of your images by using the “Resize to Fit” setting in Image Processor within Adobe Bridge.

You can see the sample image gallery item here: https://bfa.art.illinois.edu/2020/exhibit/phylogenetic-tree/

Gallery Item - Video/Gif

Information to Submit on the Web Form

• Title – Title of the work
• Medium – A description of the medium of the work (eg. “Video”, “Digital Rendering”, “Performance”, etc.)
• Year – What year was the work made? (eg. 2020)
• Dimensions (in inches) – Size of the work, if applicable (eg. 4″ x 6″ for a 2D object, or 6″ x 6″ x 8″ for a 3D object), or duration (eg. 21:02)
• Caption – Optional, an extra sentence or two describing the work
• External URL – Leave blank

 File Details

• File Name – lastname_firstname_## – where ## corresponds with the Gallery Item number on the web form
• File Format
  • MP4 format for longer videos
    • Minimum 1080p resolution
    • All aspect ratios are acceptable
  • GIF format for short looping videos
    • Landscape/square: 1600px width (height as needed for aspect ratio)
    • Portrait: 1200px height (width as needed for aspect ratio)
    • Max File size 10mb
• Preview Image – Not required

Pro Tip: If your video is less than 10 seconds long, and doesn’t require audio, you might want to convert it to a gif. This way it will auto-play and loop on the page, instead of the viewer needing to click play to watch it. Gif Brewery is available in the Art + Design labs to convert videos to gifs and to optimize gifs. Instructions for using Gif Brewery can be found here: https://gfycat.com/gifbrewery/tutorials/basics

You can see the sample video gallery item here: https://bfa.art.illinois.edu/2020/exhibit/all-in-your-head/

Gallery Item - Coding

Information to Submit on the Web Form

• Title – Title of the work
• Medium – A description of the medium of the work (eg. “Interactive Drawing”, “p5.js”, etc.)
• Year – What year was the work made? (eg. 2020)
• Dimensions (in inches) – Size of the work, likely not applicable for digital projects, may be left blank
• Caption – Optional, an extra sentence or two describing the work
• External URL –
  • For links to click, key, and touch-based interactions or non-interactive p5.js code, submit the sketch URL from your account in editor.p5js.org  (not a URL for present, embed, or full screen modes) in the External URL field
  • For interactive P5 projects that use webcam or mic control submit the sketch URL from your account in editor.p5js.org  in the External URL field.

iFrame and Preview Image Details

• Must be able to run in sandboxed iframe of following form: <iframe src=”…” sandbox=”allow-scripts allow-pointer-lock allow-same-origin”></iframe> (More info: https://www.html5rocks.com/en/tutorials/security/sandboxed-iframes/ )
• The iframe may be of arbitrary aspect ratio, but a square (center-weighted crop) preview may appear on the homepage/archives
• Preview Image – required
  • Submit a still image or gif of the project as a preview
  • Name the preview image lastname_firstname_##_preview (with the ## reflecting which gallery item number this is)
  • The preview image must meet the normal image specifications listed above in the Gallery Items – Image section

Code projects will be copied and hosted on a central School of Art & Design P5 account. Be sure to test your code on various popular browsers and devices!

You can see the sample code gallery item here: https://bfa.art.illinois.edu/2020/exhibit/chaotic-energy/

Gallery Item - Attached PDF

If your gallery item is a zine, process book, or any other kind of PDF document, you will need to submit the PDF as well as a preview image. The preview image will show up on your Exhibitor page with a link to view the full PDF that will open the PDF document.

Information to Submit on the Web Form

• Title – Title of the work
• Medium – A description of the medium of the work (eg. “Zine”, “Process Book”, etc.)
• Year – What year was the work made? (eg. 2020)
• Dimensions (in inches) – Size of the work, if applicable, may be left blank (eg. 4″ x 6″ for a 2D object, or 6″ x 6″ x 8″ for a 3D object)
• Caption – Optional, an extra sentence or two describing the work
• External URL – Leave blank

File and Preview Image Details

• File Format – PDF
• File Name – lastname_firstname_##.pdf (with the ## reflecting which gallery item number this is)
• Preview Image – required
  • We recommend that the preview image is the cover image of the PDF, but any preview from the PDF is fine
  • Name the preview image lastname_firstname_##_preview (with the ## reflecting which gallery item number this is)
  • The preview image must meet the normal image specifications listed above in the Gallery Items – Image section

You can see the sample attached PDF gallery item here: https://bfa.art.illinois.edu/2020/exhibit/welcome-to-my-soup/

Gallery Item - External Website

If your gallery item is an external website, you will need to submit the URL and a preview image.

Information to Submit on the Web Form

• Title – Title of the work
• Medium – A description of the medium of the work (eg. “Website”, “Interactive Game”, etc.)
• Year – What year was the work made? (eg. 2020)
• Dimensions (in inches) -Size of the work, likely not applicable for digital projects, may be left blank
• Caption – Optional, an extra sentence or two describing the work
• External URL – full URL of your site, include “https://” (eg. https://art.illinois.edu)

Preview Image Details

• Preview Image – required
  • A screenshot or image of the website
  • Name the preview image lastname_firstname_##_preview (with the ## reflecting which gallery item number this is)
  • The preview image must meet the normal image specifications listed above in the Gallery Items – Image section

You can see the sample external website gallery item here: https://bfa.art.illinois.edu/2020/exhibit/bfawalkabout/