Photography is a vital element of the MSU brand. It evokes emotion and connects people to the university. Our photography should be beautiful but also authentic and relatable, reflecting our pursuit of excellence for the common good and our welcoming, inclusive community.

Using photography makes marketing material more visually appealing, helps communicate important visual information, and will more likely be read and shared by others.

When selecting images of participants in MSU programs or members of the community, be considerate to people’s privacy, especially minors. Select only photo-released images of minors. When using photos of youth at any event where name badges are worn, please edit out readable names.

Use high-resolution photos so your final marketing piece is clear and of the highest possible quality, especially when used in print. If you use a low-resolution photo it can look pixilated and unprofessional. 

Always make sure you have permission to use the photo. You can use a photo you’ve taken yourself or use photos from the public domain that are available royalty-free or under certain conditions under a Creative Commons license. Always read the site license to ensure that you know the criteria for using a photo.

MSU Photos

MSU has a catalog of images for your use. It includes imagery related to students, research, campus locations, events, and more. The instructions on how to browse the image library, as well as who to contact to acquire a download is below.

Link: photos.msu.edu

How to Locate a Photo

These instructions show how to locate the image address on MSU Photos. Please provide it in an email to Joshua Morey (moreyjos@msu.edu) in the marketing office, and a download link will be provided to you.

1. Select the photo(s) you want and click the share icon at the top of the page.

image of a shiny metallic Spartan Helmet with a icon to share highlighted at the top

2. Copy and paste the link shown into an email to the marketing office to license the photo for use.

A photo demonstrating where to copy and past a link, the area is circled

College of Arts & Letters Flickr:​​​​​​

There is a wide variety of photos available for use and download on the College of Arts & Letters Flickr page.

Stock Photos

There are many resources available to locate imagery that is already licensed to be free, in the public domain, or usable with attribution. Please pay attention to the terms and conditions of each site to know how it can be used or what information you may need to include.

Note: Searching for an image on Google (or other search engines) and using it is not acceptable and often illegal. Please use a resource listed below or others that provide images that are free to use.

Freeimages (Royalty-free)
Morguefile (Royalty-free)
Commons.wikimedia (Public Domain and Creative Commons)
Pexels (Royalty-free)
Stocksnap (Public Domain)
Ipmimages (Royalty-free)
Pixabay (Royalty-free)
Unsplash (Royalty-free)
NASA (print and digital usage for educational or informational purposes)
Smithsonian Open Access (Royalty-free)