As we welcomed students back for a new semester, you may have noticed a fresh look on the screens across every Austin Community College District (ACC) campus. This fall, the College officially transitioned to a new modern digital signage platform that provides a more flexible, robust, and scalable way to communicate with students districtwide.

Rise Vision replaced Arreya, which no longer met the College’s evolving communication and operational needs across campuses and facilities. 

This transition represents more than a technology upgrade — it reflects a new, student-first communication strategy designed to deliver timely, relevant information that supports student success and strengthens the campus experience.

A Major Collaborative Achievement

Rise Vision was selected as the district’s new digital signage platform following a 15-month request for proposal and evaluation process involving stakeholders from Information Technology (IT), Finance, the Office of College Relations and Marketing (OCRM), Emergency Management, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, and other departments across the College.

The switch to Rise Vision was a massive undertaking completed in just over eight weeks during the summer semester, involving the touch of at least two people for each of the 1,200 displays across the district.

In addition to the teams above, Electronic Security & Safety, Networking, Information Security, campus management, electricians, materials management, and police officers were all a part of the installation process.

“This was a collegewide effort reaching across departments with the goal of keeping our students, faculty, and staff aware in the case of an emergency and informed about all that ACC has to offer,” says Derrick Gaderson, Sr. IT Project Manager.

Signage for a Student-First Strategy

As one of the College’s official communication channels, digital signage should support ACC’s highest institutional priorities, including our North Star Goal and Theory of Change. 

While IT manages the networking and equipment, the Office of College Relations and Marketing (OCRM) will continue to oversee content review, scheduling, design and branding standards, and accessibility compliance.

In preparation for the districtwide rollout, OCRM led a collaborative planning process with key stakeholders throughout the summer. This work focused on updating content standards, programming strategies, and operational workflows to maximize the capabilities of the new platform.

“The goal is to deliver timely, relevant, and actionable information and messaging to reflect the Rhythm of the Semester work to help students utilize the right resources at the right time, meet important deadlines, and participate in ACC’s robust campus life across the district. This project is such a great example of cross-college collaboration and commitment to fixing broken systems that no longer serve our students in the ways needed in 2026,” says Brette Lea, Vice Chancellor of College Relations and Marketing.

Updated Guidelines

To better serve our students, new content management standards have been established. Digital signage is now viewed as a billboard rather than a flyer, meant to be readable from 10 feet away in just three to five seconds.

Key changes to the guidelines include:

  • Concise Messaging: Every slide should communicate one message and encourage one clear action that students should take.
  • Word Count: Text is strictly limited to 30 words or fewer.
  • Visual Standards: High-contrast designs and large, legible fonts are required for accessibility. Internal department logos are no longer necessary, as the ACC District logo is displayed consistently on the screen.
  • Streamlined Events: Campus events should first be submitted to the ACC Events Calendar, which will automatically populate the “Upcoming Events” ticker on the screens; this will be an additional feature coming to the signage system this fall.

How to Submit a Request

New playlists are published districtwide every Monday. If your department would like to submit content for consideration, please be aware of the following:

  • Deadlines: Submissions must be received by 8 a.m. each Friday.
  • Limits: Departments may submit a maximum of two slides at a time.
  • Format: All slides must be 1920 x 1080 pixels in a landscape (16:9) orientation.
  • Link: Submit your slide using this form.

To access the full submission checklist and for more details on the new standards, please visit the updated Digital Signage Slide Guidelines on the OCRM website.