Selecting Images for Each Piece + ALT text

Typically the images the Writing Center uses for TOC follow a theme (e.g., noir) that assists in narrowing in on the tone for each respective issue. The Editor for each issue selects images that are simple (i.e., do not contain too many objects in the image that could distract from the intended subject) and reflect an aspect of the text (e.g., a particular theme, object, or setting). Websites like Flicker and Unsplash are excellent sources for finding good quality images—just make sure you filter results to look at results under Free licenses.

Imagine you’re looking for an image to use based on a story about someone’s distress over not knowing who they’ve become. In this case, you might search for images that you think reflects this notion of identity or distress. On the other hand, you can look for an image that literally represents an element of a story. For example, while a story may be about someone’s distress, are there any elements that may stick out to someone—e.g., a stuffed bear that was mentioned and which you think aptly reflects the story? Does the story primarily take place in a consistent setting—e.g., Chicago, in a coffee house, in an ordinary living room? These are all elements that you can draw inspiration from and research as you explore different images.

Primarily, the main purpose for our image is to have a nice cover for each of the pieces we publish, which will be displayed on each post along with a section of the writer’s reflection, via the cover template (see Publishing Drafts on WordPress), and on our issue page (see Launching Issue on WordPress).

Example of how the image appears on a post.

Example of how images appear on an issue page.

GRAPHIC REQUIREMENTS

• Make cropping uniform; 16:9 aspect ratio
• Ideally 1920 pixels wide
  • This ensures that the images aren’t uploading slowly
• After uploading the image into the “Media Library” section, select the desired image
• For ALT text, make sure to include a short sentence or phrase that gives a brief report of an image’s visual context. For example, imagine you’re using a photograph of a pair of scissors on top of a coffee table. For the ALT text, you can say “Pair of scissors on top of a coffee table.” Try to avoid phrases like “Image of” or “Photo of” to avoid redundancy with the accessibility software.

• For the description text, you can go into more detail on the visual elements of the chosen image. In this section, you want to elaborate on other elements of the image that help set the scene. Using the example of the scissors, an elaborate description may read as follows: “Black and white image of a pair of scissors on top of a black coffee table. The scissors have a faint scratch on the left handle and are angled toward the top part of the image. A few dark liquid droplets surround the coffee table.”

Editing Images on Canva

After following image instructions above, it's time to edit the image in Canva to match TOC's noir/black and white theme.

1. Log into Canva and click “Create a design” in the top right-hand corner. Select the “Presentation 16:9” (1920 x 1080 px) format from the pop-up menu.

2. Make sure you’re following the naming conventions listed in the ‣ section of the handbook. In this case, the conventions would be along the lines of "TOC Issue [#] Images, UCWbLing SL, SQ23.”

   

3. Each image will have its own slide. You can make a new slide by clicking on “+Add page” button, located under the last slide.

4. To rename a slide to make it easier once you have to upload them to Google Drive or WordPress, look for the page number on slide you want to rename, which will be right above the slide. Next to the page number will be a gray text that states, “Add page title.” Click on that and write the title of the piece to which the graphic corresponds.