The following guidelines, some of which can be found in our brand guide, pertain to images used on all Michigan Tech websites and publications.
Copyright
Only use properly purchased or attributed stock photos or photos owned/taken by you or Michigan Tech. You may not use random photos from other pages on the internet without express copyright permissions. Departments not following the copyright laws may be subject to fines and fees.
Diversity
Our photos should depict a equitable representation of students, faculty and staff along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, age, and physical abilities. It is important for our photos to be real.
The Michigan Tech website viewed in its entirety, should depict the diversity that exists on campus. Not every image will embody all aspects of diversity, and that’s OK.
Safety
All subjects within photos must comply with safety guidelines as outlined by Environmental Health and Safety (EHS).
As an example, if a photo represents a subject performing an experiment and they would normally wear safety gloves and goggles during that experiment, they must where that safety equipment during the photoshoot.
If you aren't sure if your photo passes a safety check, you can run it by EHS.
Quality
Photos should be of good quality. This includes using a photo that is large enough and has enough pixels for the space you wish it to fill. It also means having good lighting and composition.
Mobile/Phone Photos
Using iPhone or smartphone photos may be OK in some situations. You may also be able to use crowdsourced photos, including those taken by your own staff and/or students. Michigan Tech offers free LinkedIn Learning access to faculty and staff and there are dozens of photography tutorials, including ones specific to mobile device photography.
For the Web
When considering photos for the web, remember that most users access websites through a horizontal viewing space such as a desktop monitor or on a smartphone with limited screen space. Because of this, it is best to use horizontally cropped images.
The Image Editor within the CMS automatically converts files to the JPG format. Please refer to our blog post for preferred image sizes, common Image Editor errors, and how to use the Image Editor.
Accessibility
We are required to create and maintain websites that meet Level AA and/or AAA web accessibility conformance for as many of our standardized web elements as possible. A big part of this involves making sure that our online images are accessible. Follow online image accessibility training to help.