Screenshot from Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon), 1902. Wikipedia Commons. This image is in the public domain as the film A Trip to the Moon was released in 1902.
Finding Images
Without images, there is no graphic design. And where there are images, there is also copyright. This page is meant to provide information about copyright and graphic design, as well as resources for images that can be used for educational and personal purposes.
What is Fair Use?
"Fair use is a legal doctrine that promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances. Section 107 of the Copyright Act provides the statutory framework for determining whether something is a fair use and identifies certain types of uses—such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research—as examples of activities that may qualify as fair use." (from the U.S Copyright Office Website)
As a graphic design student, you have the freedom to use images that are copyright protected as long as it is solely for educational use, and you are not making any profit off of the work. However, you may need to still cite any images that you use for a class project.
The American Library Association (ALA) has a Fair Use Evaluator that can help users determine whether or not your use of an item falls under fair use guidelines.
What is Creative Commons?
"Creative Commons licenses give everyone from individual creators to large institutions a standardized way to grant the public permission to use their creative work under copyright law. From the reuser’s perspective, the presence of a Creative Commons license on a copyrighted work answers the question, “What can I do with this work?”" (From the Creative Commons Website)
There are 6 different types of creative common licenses, and they each have varying degrees of permissions for the reuser. Visit the Creative Commons website to learn what those different types are, and how you can identify them.
What is Public Domain?
"Works that are in the public domain may be used freely, without obtaining permission from or compensating the copyright owner." (From the Copyright Laws website)
Works can enter the public domain in a variety of ways; some reasons a work may be in the public domain is the copyright protection has expired, the work was produced by the U.S government, or the work does not have sufficient originality.
Sources to Find Images
Below are websites and databases that have an assortment of images that can be used under fair use guidelines, have been designated as creative commons, or are in the public domain. These images can also be used as inspiration for design.
- Art Images for College Teaching"Art Images for College Teaching (AICT) began as a personal project dedicated to the principle of free exchange of image resources for and among members of the educational community."
- Library of CongressThe Library of Congress has images that they call "free to use and reuse" as they believe them to either be in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use.
- The Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe Met website allows users to filter their search to only include open access images.
- MuseoMuseo is a visual search engine that connects you with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Rijksmuseum, the Harvard Art Museums, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the The Cleveland Museum of Art, and the New York Public Library Digital Collection! Images you find here are typically free to use, but please check with the source institution for more specifics.
- PolanoidThis collection hosts over 280,000 images using a Polaroid instant camera. The collection can be searched based on tags or free text. As collection images are provided by the general public, the public is responsible for tagging individual pictures, which may affect the findability of pictures. Collection images are free for personal use
- Wikimedia CommonsWikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available public domain and freely licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to everyone, in their own language.
These links below are databases through the University Library. You can also search the University's A-Z Database Library, and filter database types to only include Media (Audio, Video, Images).
- Arkyves This link opens in a new windowArkyves is both a unique database of images and texts and a meeting place for everyone who wants to study imagery and publish about it.
- Archives Unbound This link opens in a new windowArchives Unbound presents topically-focused digital collections of historical documents that support the research and study needs of scholars and students at the college and university level.
- Oxford Art Online This link opens in a new windowOxford Art Online offers access to some of the most authoritative, inclusive, and easily searchable online art resources available today.
- Artstor This link opens in a new windowNow part of the JSTOR Archive, Artstor is a database of digital images and associated catalog data, with new image collections added several times a year. The collection formerly known as Artstor covers many time periods and cultures, and documents the fields of architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, design, anthropology, ethnographic and women studies, as well as many other forms of visual culture. Users can search, view, download and organize images.
Books from the Catalog
Law for Artists by
Written especially for professional artists and those studying the visual arts, Law for Artists is an accessible guide to those aspects of law that impact on artists and their work. It encompasses a comprehensive range of creative practices including fine art, photography, the graphic and plastic arts, animation, illustration, applied and media arts, as well as fashion, textile and product design. As one of the few academics working in this field Blu Tirohl clearly explains the legal principles - such as intellectual property, censorship, freedom of expression and criminal law - that are relevant to artists working in a range of disciplines. In order to illustrate these key concepts the book includes an engaging collection of examples of artists who have come into conflict with the law, demonstrating precisely the challenges faced by creative practitioners. The author also explores how the establishment co-opts transgressive artists; bringing about a range of contradictions that create legal inconsistencies. While the focus is primarily on UK law, the reader is also given ample information to understand how European law affects them. An entire chapter is also dedicated to the comparative study of US Law through well-known cases, ensuring students have a well-rounded knowledge of the concepts that they need to consider in a professional context. The book also provides additional resources including a list of useful websites, a glossary of key terms, as well as a list of statutes and cases. Law for Artists is an invaluable resource to professional practitioners and art graduates, as well as the academics who instruct them. This insightful publication, the first of its kind, helps introduce artists to the professional practice skills needed to ensure they are well-equipped to deal with working life.
ISBN: 9781317585169Publication Date: 2014-11-27
Permissions, a Survival Guide by
If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it's a good bet that at least half of those words relate to the picture's copyright status. Art historians, artists, and anyone who wants to use the images of others will find themselves awash in byzantine legal terms, constantly evolving copyright law, varying interpretations by museums and estates, and despair over the complexity of the whole situation. Here, on a white--not a high--horse, Susan Bielstein offers her decades of experience as an editor working with illustrated books. In doing so, she unsnarls the threads of permissions that have ensnared scholars, critics, and artists for years. Organized as a series of "takes" that range from short sidebars to extended discussions, Permissions, A Survival Guide explores intellectual property law as it pertains to visual imagery. How can you determine whether an artwork is copyrighted? How do you procure a high-quality reproduction of an image? What does "fair use" really mean? Is it ever legitimate to use the work of an artist without permission? Bielstein discusses the many uncertainties that plague writers who work with images in this highly visual age, and she does so based on her years navigating precisely these issues. As an editor who has hired a photographer to shoot an incredibly obscure work in the Italian mountains (a plan that backfired hilariously), who has tried to reason with artists' estates in languages she doesn't speak, and who has spent her time in the archival trenches, she offers a snappy and humane guide to this difficult terrain. Filled with anecdotes, asides, and real courage, Permissions, A Survival Guide is a unique handbook that anyone working in the visual arts will find invaluable, if not indispensable.
ISBN: 0226046370Publication Date: 2006-06-23
Reclaiming Fair Use by
In the increasingly complex and combative arena of copyright in the digital age, record companies sue college students over peer-to-peer music sharing, YouTube removes home movies because of a song playing in the background, and filmmakers are denied a distribution deal when some permissions "i" proves undottable. Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi chart a clear path through the confusion by urging a robust embrace of a principle long-embedded in copyright law, but too often poorly understood-fair use. By challenging the widely held notion that current copyright law has become unworkable and obsolete in the era of digital technologies, Reclaiming Fair Use promises to reshape the debate in both scholarly circles and the creative community. This indispensable guide distills the authors' years of experience advising documentary filmmakers, English teachers, performing arts scholars, and other creative professionals into no-nonsense advice and practical examples for content producers. Reclaiming Fair Use begins by surveying the landscape of contemporary copyright law-and the dampening effect it can have on creativity-before laying out how the fair-use principle can be employed to avoid copyright violation. Finally, Aufderheide and Jaszi summarize their work with artists and professional groups to develop best practice documents for fair use and discuss fair use in an international context. Appendixes address common myths about fair use and provide a template for creating the reader's own best practices. Reclaiming Fair Use will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the law, creativity, and the ever-broadening realm of new media.
ISBN: 9780226032443Publication Date: 2011-07-15
