Graphics guidelines Best practices for sourcing images Hillary Danz, Lead Social Content Editor ITSO Global Content Services

Why graphics? Images provide a richer viewing experience. Blog readers have short attention spans, and the visuals help break up large blocks of text. The right number is usually one or two graphics per post.

Graphics best practices Copyright & Permissions Do you have the rights to use this graphic? If it’s something you find through a general web search, the answer is probably no. Use only the approved resources outlined here unless you can get written permission. Written permission can be a legal statement from the web or text saved in an email. IBM Legal requires written permission even from “free” sources like Creative Commons or Wikimedia Commons. Relevance What are you trying to portray, and how faithfully does the image accomplish this? Adapted from http://argoproject.org/blog/2010/08/sourcing-images-best-practices-and-best-sources/

Approved resources IBM resources Your resources IBM Media Manager (Getty Images) For use in this social media residency program only IBM Brand System Center Assets: Royalty-Free Photography Available to all IBMers IBM Marketing Asset Manager Our graphics editor can create something from an idea you have Debbie Willmschen: dwillmsc@us.ibm.com Your resources Your photos Diagrams and other graphics you create

IBM resources

IBM Media Manager (Getty Images) A searchable database of pictures and diagrams. URL: https://mm.gettyimages.com/mm/actions/login.do?site=ibm Login: mkeen // Password: redb00ks Search for an image using keywords. Download it. Attach the image files when you upload your blog post in the “Blog posts to be edited” activity in the community (include a note or thumbnail in your file if location in the post is important). Try not to repeat an image you’ve already seen on the blog.

IBM Brand System Center: Royalty-Free Photography https://www-304.ibm.com/innovation/brand/assets/photography/ Use your IBM ID and password to log in Search through photography collections by industry/category Download the image you want Save file and upload as an attachment when you submit your blog post for editing

IBM Marketing Asset Manager IBM's major repository for images, white papers, presentations and so forth. URL: http://mam2.stibo.com/PORTAL/STARTUP.php Must create your own login and password (in advance) Training is available once you have a login Log in and search for images Download images/documents and save them to your computer (no need to contact a graphics specialist). Then attach files in the community when you upload your document for editing. A little more challenging to search and download the files, but training is available on the site.

Other available resources IBM News Room Image Gallery Miscellaneous images IBM has made available from events and newsworthy items w3 Design Resources for Information Graphics (Reusable Diagram Elements and Shapes) Useful if you are creating a diagram related to your blog topic IBM Connections First click Public Communities from the dropdown list. Then select All Connections. Enter a search term and filter through results to find an image. Less commonly used

Your resources Original works

Photographs You can use any photo you’ve taken yourself, if good quality and related to blog content. (You own the rights to your own photographs.) Photos at events: Generic crowd images are okay. Ask for permission to show someone’s face.

Infographics, diagrams, illustrations Create yourself Use Design Resources for Information Graphics Work with our graphics editor, Debbie Willmschen, dwillmsc@us.ibm.com, if you need assistance

Some examples

Good use of relevant images from Getty just posted on Mobile Enterprise. Includes relevant graphics to break up text—especially the second one.

A non-IBM image used with permission from Thoughts on Cloud. permission statement from creative commons is linked.

A redrawn image A resident liked this image from another website, but we didn’t have legal rights to reprint it. So our graphics editor recreated something similar. On the Social Business Insights blog. So if you can’t find the graphic you want, there’s a good chance our graphics editor can create something similar.

Personal photography from Smarter Computing, a good example of making a blog post personal & using one’s own photography

Tips Remember One to two visuals per post Relevant to content From approved resources or with written permission Attach as separate files when you upload your blog post *Instructions are also included in the Connections community in the wiki: Adding images to blog posts For help locating relevant graphics, contact Hillary, your graphics editor or your project leader, Martin.

The end Hillary Danz hdanz@us.ibm.com