Guidelines for Using Images on Our Website

Owned by Rachel Klingler
Last updated: Dec 07, 2022 by Jessica Coda
2 min read

You are encouraged to use photos and other images on your site, but we must make sure that we have the appropriate permissions before using an image on our website. There are a few options for to find pictures that you can use on the website.

Policy

From the Web Governance Policies:

Photography and Images

  • Departments/units are encouraged to use photography on their sites. Photography should be appropriate to the subject matter of your website.
  • Images should portray a positive image of the UW System and its actions, programs, events, activities, and faculty, staff, and students.
  • Photographs should include labels depicting the people, places, objects, or events represented in the image.
  • Departments must have consent to use images and photographs not owned by UW System Administration.

Finding Images to Use

There are a few options for finding photos and imagery to use on your page.

UW System Photo Library

University Relations maintains a photo library of images from campsuses that we can use. The library is found on SharePoint. If you don't have access to the library, please email webteam@uwss.wisconsin.edu to be granted access.

Creative Commons Zero License Libraries

These pictures are available for you to use for free, without asking for permission or including attribution.

  • https://pixabay.com/ This library includes many images with a stock photo-like look. This would be the place to look if you were looking for an image of a stethoscope to include on a page about health insurance.
  • https://unsplash.com/ This library veers into the "pretty" images. You won't find as many literal images on this site, but it is a good resource for a different esthetic.

Note: Please don't use generic photos of students, teachers, or campuses. For these types of photos, use real photos from our campuses found in our photo library.

Search for Free Photos

If you can't find what you are looking for in the above libraries, you can also try using Google Image Advanced Search and choose "free to use or share" in the usage rights filter at the bottom of the options.

Note: By default, Google does not filter based on license. You can't use many of the images you find on unfiltered Google image search on our website because they are licensed images.

Purchase Stock Photos

Please talk to our graphic designer, Karin Wrzesinski, for help purchasing stock photos for use on the website.