Visual content plays a vital role in capturing and retaining the attention of online audiences. Incorporating high-quality images, eye-catching illustrations, attention-grabbing icons, or captivating presentations can significantly enhance your course content, making it more visually appealing and engaging for your audience. However, finding these valuable assets can sometimes be daunting. Below is a handpicked compilation of leading platforms that provide an abundance of free content, empowering you to enhance the quality of your creative work. Get ready to unlock a world of creativity and inspiration!
Photo and Video
Pexels
Pexels has a great deal of quality photo and video content to choose from. Pexels provides its own license, which states what you can and cannot do with the images. You can use and modify the images for free, for both commercial and personal use without attribution (although attribution is always welcome!).
Pixabay
Pixabay offers a plethora of content options such as photos, illustrations, video, music, sound effects, and GIFs. Pixabay embraces the Creative Commons Zero (CCO) license for its images, granting you the freedom to utilize them without seeking permission or attributing the artist (like Pexels acknowledgment is still welcomed). Pixabay also encourages users to exercise caution regarding any potential rights infringement depicted in the images.
Unsplash
Unsplash provides wonderful photo images. Unsplash offers its own license that grants you the freedom to utilize the images freely, allowing you to use them in almost any manner you desire.
Flickr
Flickr serves as a vibrant online community for photographers, artists, and anyone passionate about visual content. The licensing terms can differ depending on the user who uploaded the work, so it is important to exercise caution when selecting images.
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons has tons of images that use a variety of Creative Commons licenses. Be sure to check the requirements of the image you select.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons has lots of images to choose from, from a variety of sources. Except where otherwise noted, content on the site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Illustrations
Storyset
Storyset provides awesome illustrations and allows you to customize your choice by changing its style, color and background. Storyset utilizes the Freepik License which allows you to use the illustrations for personal and commercial purpose with attribution.
Blush
Blush provides a diverse catalog of illustrations and allows users to personalize and customize the illustrations by adjusting colors, sizes and styles to fit their needs. The Blush license, dubbed the ‘worry-free license’, allows users to use illustrations for personal and commercial purposes without the need for attribution.
Icons
Icons8
Icons8 has tons of icons to choose from in a variety of styles, and has the option to recolor icons to match your color scheme. Icons8 refers to their Universal Multimedia License Agreement which states that a link to icons8.com must be included as a footer on any page that their content is present.
Noun Project
The Noun Project is a website and online community that offers a wide range of vector-based icons that can be customized to fit your needs and used for both personal and commercial use under specific licensing terms.
SVG Repo
SVG Repo is a website that provides a vast collection of SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) vectors and icons that can be used in various ways. SVGs can be scaled to any size without losing quality, making them very versatile in digital applications. Most of the vectors and icons are free for personal and commercial use.
Music
Bensound
Bensound offers a wide variety of royalty-free music and sound effects for various creative projects. The website provides both free and paid options for downloading and licensing.
Incompetech
Incompetech is a popular resource for royalty-free music that can be used in various projects such as videos, podcasts, and presentations. The music is available for free download and use under the Creative Commons license, with attribution to the composer.
Microsoft 365 Assets
In addition to the list provided, USask Microsoft 365 subscribers can enjoy an expanding collection of numerous royalty-free resources, including images, icons, illustrations, videos, and more. These assets are readily available for utilization in documents, presentations, and emails. Presently, they can be accessed in Microsoft 365 and Sharepoint, and new content is added monthly.
Remember: Accessibility & Copyright
When incorporating visual content, one must be mindful of accessibility. Making your visual content more accessible involves taking steps to ensure that individuals with disabilities can access and understand the information presented. You can learn more about making your content more accessible here: Images and Alt Text
As always, copyright compliance is the responsibility of the individual using the content. So be diligent in checking what type of license is being used, and what specifications you must meet to ensure your content is following the terms of use. You can learn more about copyright here: Copyright at the University of Saskatchewan
Photo by Antoni Shkraba from Pexels.