Launching this Friday in time for the first home football game is a new website, www.gatech.edu/swag, where students, alumni and fans alike can go to find downloads to showcase their pride digitally.
“It’s basically a place where we’re going to have desktop wallpapers, mobile wallpapers, ringtones [and] Facebook cover photos,” said Communications Officer for Institute Communications Kristen Bailey. “[It’s] just a different digital spirit type of thing so you can dress up your online profile or your phone background and showcase your school spirit.”
Bailey, an integral part of getting this new site set up, discussed the main goal of this new website: offering a resource for fans to show their pride in new ways while still keeping traditions alive.
“People love traditions and, in some of these other graphic designs, we focused on traditions and wanted to use the spirit that already exists [to] give people another way to share it,” Bailey said.
Currently, the site is starting out with 10 basic offerings that fans would be interested in. They will be available for free in different resolutions and for various kinds of phones and computers, allowing universal access and display for this digital content.
“We really want to make it something that appeals to the Tech audience […and] to provide resources for our fans […] our students and our alumni to show off their Tech pride in different ways,” Bailey said.
Examples of paraphernalia range from panoramic displays so fans can relive old memories of famous football games to notification ringtones like the Ramblin’ Wreck’s car horn. While there are also going to be parts targeted more towards students or alumni, the focus, according to Bailey, is simply to be a new resource for any Tech fan, old or new.
With Tech already invested in social media, Communications will be constantly looking for feedback as to what fans like about the new site, what fans don’t like and what fans want to see more of. As Tech continues to expand its online presence, the site will also grow and offer more content, both from planning and coming from outside suggestions.
Bailey hopes that with this new site launch, students, alumni and fans now have a place to get their GT “swag” online.