Photography/Website Image Standards and Guidelines

Images are permitted and encouraged on Seminole State College's Web and social media sites as they provide value to the pages. However, professionalism and presentation are important when choosing the images because they are a reflection of the College, its programs and departments.

Images that do not meet the following standards will not be displayed or will be removed from Seminole State websites or official social media sites. Questions about specific images may be directed to Seminole State WebSupport. 

Seminole State Logos

All logo images and wordmarks must follow the logo guidelines for Seminole State College.

Quality Guidelines

  • Images should enhance the overall brand and reputation of the College.
  • Images that are photographs must display the department and the work of its faculty and staff in a professional, relevant manner.
  • Graphic illustrations or drawings are not used unless previously approved as necessary to the site content.
  • The graphics should be directly and obviously related to the site's mission and target audience.
  • Images should be in focus, well-lit for the subject matter and properly processed for color correction.
  • Images that are grainy, obviously Photoshopped or have been processed incorrectly will not be displayed or will be removed from the site.
  • Image treatments - alterations made to an image such as framing, shadowing - must be consistent and in keeping with the current design and style of the website.

Resolution and size

  • Images should be used at 100 percent of their size at 72 dpi to provide the best loading time for the page.
  • Images should be coded to display correctly in mobile devices.
  • Graphic items must fit on the page in such a way that other items on the page aren't moved.
  • The size should be such that any wrapping text is still legible. Images that are extremely horizontal or vertical are more difficult to fit in the format for the website.
  • On pages where there are multiple images (such as a listing of faculty and staff with photographs), the images should be the same size and quality.
  • It is important to keep the file size as small as possible to ensure that the page loads quickly. In most cases, this can be done by making sure that the physical size of the actual file is the same as the size it should be shown on the screen.

Note: It is possible to resize an image using HTML code. This is not acceptable, because it dilutes the quality of the image and often results in a longer page load.

Preferred Formats

All images should be output in a format most technically suited for the image type.

  • JPG/JPEG:The preferred format for posting photography online. JPG/JPEG images can contain millions of colors and can be compressed to your desired size. These sizes are recommended:
    • Photoshop Quality level 80 — small images
    • Photoshop Quality level 60 — large images
  • GIF: Generally used for non-photographic images of 256 colors or less, such as buttons, logos, icons and arrows.
  • PNG: Non-compressed images that should be used if their file size is comparable to that of a JPG.

Selecting Images

  • Photo library: College Relations and Marketing's Publications staff maintains a photo library of campus imagery. Faculty and staff who need assistance with photos should submit a Publications work order.
  • New photos: Faculty and staff requesting new photography, should file a work order in the Service Request System for Creative Services.
  • Photo releases: Subjects, other than Seminole State employees, who are clearly identified in photos must sign a photo release form. CRM maintains and requires release forms for use in all publication materials, including the website.
  • Template images: Images required for College templates (banner images) are chosen and prepared with the assistance of Creative Services and WebSupport to ensure compliance with all College website standards.
  • Copyright rules: Site developers must know, understand and comply with the rules of copyright for images on the Web, as well as in print. If you don't know who owns an image, or if you have not been granted express permission to use an image, do not use it. Website developers and editors who authorize site development are responsible for all content on their sites. If you have any questions about the origin, alteration, use or development of the content on your site, please contact the Web Development Coordinator.

Legal and/or System Requirements

  • All images must use an alt, title or a longdesc attribute added to the image tag to describe the image for sight-impaired users. For example, a photograph of a person should have a descriptive alt attribute such as "Photo of Seminole State student" or "Photo of Dr. Joan Doe."
  • Logos must also have an alt or title attribute explaining what the text of the logo contains.
  • Detailed charts, graphs, line art, etc. should have an alt attribute (short description) and an attached file, which is linked through the longdesc attribute. The attached file should be a detailed description of what is in the graphic. For example: A chart could have a link to a text document (such as a spreadsheet) explaining the values represented in the image.
  • All graphics containing text must have a representation of said text in either the alt or title attribute.

Contact

Seminole State WebSupport
websupport@seminolestate.edu