Imagery

Illustrations
Image style
Attributions

Illustrations

Illustrations can really make your content come to life. We have used line illustrations for a while, and we like this style. We also really like the WP20 illustrations that Karabo Poppy Moletsane and Jasmina El Bouamraoui made. We prefer to use them in one colour, in a big scale. It’s a large set of illustrations, so there is lots to choose from – find one that suits your message!

They work well in black and white, or in combination with our expanded colour palette.

When using the illustrations, do not make them smaller than 1.25 inches / 31.75 mm wide.

Image style

Photography is an essential part of communication — and an important tool for us to communicate values and personality. Picking the right photos can be challenging, so we have gathered a few tips to get you started.

Subject

Feel free to pick any subject that supports your message, but stay away from anything that can be found offensive. Think about how the photo can communicate ‘community’ and ‘knowledge’, which is what we’re all about. Photos of people tend to grab attention and evoke emotions. Cityscapes and nature photography can set a nice mood and context for your message. These are good places to start.

Quality and resolution

Make sure the photo you choose is high quality, high resolution and with the intended subject in focus. A good rule of thumb is that photos intended for screen use should have a resolution of at least 1920 x 1080 pixels (or 1080 x 1920).

Credits

Make sure you have the rights to use the chosen photo, and be sure to credit the photographer/creator.

Text

Putting text over a full bleed photo can make your message pop! Just make sure it has a nice contrast with either black or white, so the text is legible and clear. Don’t place text on top of the subject/focal point of the photo, such as faces, people or buildings.

Left: J. Herzog / CC BY 4.0. Right: © A.Savin, WikiCommons. The examples above have sufficient contrast with the background, and don’t cover any important elements in the photo.

We encourage you to stay away from applications like the ones below, they are too difficult to read.

Left: L. Gottschalk / CC0 1.0. Right: R. Eisele / CC BY 4.0

Selection

Below you can find a selection of photos from Commons you are free to use for your content.

See the full set on Commons

Attributions

Who is this guide for? This guide is intended for anyone interested in reusing Wikimedia project content.

What is the purpose of this guide? To provide best practices for attributing Wikimedia’s Creative Commons licensed content when you want to reuse it on other platforms. This is not meant to be general advice for how to attribute all Creative Commons license content in any situation. Instead, it is it is how the Wikimedia Foundation believes CC-licensed content from Wikimedia projects should be attributed in common reuse situations.

See the full attributions guide on Commons