Avoid decorative images
Avoid decorative images because they create confusion and clutter for the user. Feel free to use multiple images in an article, but make sure the text is readable.
Before choosing an image, ask yourself:
- What do I want to achieve with an image here?
- What kind of image is most suitable?
Use images that appear genuine and real. Avoid images of fashion models, as they are perceived as artificial. Clear faces capture attention. Crop the images if necessary.
Checklist for image selection
- Does the image add more information to the message of the article? Does it highlight the central points of the text?
- Do the faces in the image convey emotions? Do they convey the emotions that reflect the message of the article?
- Do I lose important information when scaling down the image?
- Can the image be scaled or cropped even better so that the user can easily see the details?
- Is the image large enough? Is the image too poor in quality to be used in such a large size?
Naming of images
- Images of people should be named with full name and preferably pixel width, for example: ola-nordmann-200.jpg. This does not apply to low-resolution images for employee profiles. These images are named with the person's uio-username.
- High-resolution press images are named with the name of the person in the image, the name of the photographer, and the year.
- Illustrative images should be named as specifically as possible.
Sizes
Large images get noticed, small images are ignored.
Image caption
The image caption field should always contain accreditation of the photographer or other source and the names of any people in the image. Image captions are read. Therefore, feel free to use the image caption to emphasize a point in the article. It can also contain informative text about the image, or text or a quote from the article that you would like to highlight. Image captions should not be in italics, nor should the accreditation.
Crediting
Press images from UiO can be used freely, but must always be credited to the creator.
- Write at the end of the image caption: Photo: <photographer>, UiO if the photographer's name is known.
- If the photographer is unknown, write for example: Photo: UiO.
Front page images do not need to be credited when the front page image is linked to an article with the same image where this image is credited in the caption.
Where Vortex does not have a caption field and the image does not lead to an article that contains the same image, we recommend placing the image credit aligned right in the text field closest to the image. If that is not possible, place the credit in the lower right corner of the image.
Colourbox and crediting
Images from Colourbox are credited as follows:
"Illustration photo: Colourbox.no". Remember the "Illustration photo" - just "Photo:" is not sufficient.
Images with people should be credited in a way that the image cannot be linked to the article. Icons or other pure illustrations do not require crediting.
Universal design
Alternative text (Alt-text)
All images should have a descriptive alternative text. Alt-text is an important tool for visually impaired individuals to understand the content of the image. The text is read aloud for those who use screen readers, replacing the image for those who cannot see it.
The alt-text should describe what the image shows. Write concisely and start with the most important information. Do not start with "The image shows that," since the reading tool informs the user if it is an image, a link, etc. It may be relevant for users with severe visual impairments to know if the image is a photo, an illustration, or graphics. This information should consistently come last in the alt-text.
Some templates, such as personal presentations, automatically generate alt-text.
Text in images
Text placed within an image is not readable and does not meet the requirements for universal design. Therefore, avoid placing textual information in images. Text in images must be reproduced separately, for example, as linked text or with a text box overlaying the image.
Quality
- Images should have good technical photo quality and a resolution suitable for the web (72 dpi).
- Crop and focus on details in the image.
Alternatives to photos
You can also illustrate an article using graphs, charts, or maps where appropriate. Graphs are a good alternative for visualizing tables.
Consent declaration
When it comes to images of individuals or where individuals are easily recognizable, consent must be obtained before publishing them on the internet.
As a general rule, images with groups of people from public events are acceptable to publish within the context in which they were taken. However, if an image is to represent a specific topic, be prominently displayed, or be used in a different context than where the photo was taken, consent should be obtained. Consent form for photography (PDF)
Copyright
You must always ensure that you have permission to use an image on uio.no. You need permission from the creator or rights holder, unless it is explicitly specified that the image is free to use.
- An exception is images under the Creative Commons license
- Also see use of images from the image database Colourbox
If you purchase an image for use on uio.no, make sure that you can keep it available for as long as you need. Many purchased images may only grant you rights for a limited time unless otherwise specified.
- UiO should have rights to images used for personal presentations. Feel free to include a high-resolution version for press use.
AI/ML-generated images
There are services where you can create exactly the image you want using AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning). Some of these websites can be used for free, while others are paid services.
The various services have different regulations regarding the copyright of the images created in this way. It is important that you, as a user of such services, familiarize yourself with the copyright rules. In addition, many of these services can mimic living and deceased artists because they have been trained on existing images/paintings, which may raise ethical dilemmas related to copyright.
AI-generated images posted on UiO's websites or used in other ways at UiO must comply with the copyright rules of the service that produced the image.
Representation of artwork on the internet
When reproducing artwork, the Norwegian Copyright Act applies even when UiO is the owner. Use of artwork presented to the general public, regardless of ownership, must be arranged with BONO (Norwegian Visual Artists Copyright Society) for participating artists. Others may be directly negotiated with. If the artist has been deceased for 70 years or more, only the owner of the artwork decides.
- More information: www.bono.no (Norwegian only) and lovdata.no (Norwegian only).