Imagery and visual style
Photography, illustration, and iconography play a central role in how we communicate who we are. Used well, they can reflect our diversity, our place in the world, and our academic excellence. A consistent visual style helps unify communications across departments and platforms, strengthening recognition of the Oxford brand.
Where possible, use images from the University Image Library.
What we want our images to communicate
Diversity:
- Human diversity (gender, race, disability, age, belief etc)
- Intellectual diversity (research, ideas and approaches)
- Excellence
- Forefronting the extraordinary quality, impact and rigour of our people, our education and research, our work and our ideas
Authenticity:
- Where possible, photography should be real, not stock imagery.
Selecting images (commissioned or stock)
Use photography that is:
- relevant to the story
- natural
- in focus
- well cropped
Avoid photography that is:
- clichéd: grip and grin, students pointing animatedly at a screen
- computer generated: composited, conceptual
- Ensure the appropriate consent is obtained and records are kept.
Teams and Zoom backgrounds
A selection of background images for Teams or Zoom video calls created using photos from the University Image library.
Please see the applications help documents to find out how to add these backgrounds to your calls. Please note that the background will appear mirrored in your preview, but they will be the correct way to others.