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The Perils of Clipart
By admin | November 6, 2007
First, stock photography is almost always better than stock clipart; clipart tends to make a site look cheap. This post applies equally to both types of graphic:
Photography and clip art sites usually do a few different things:
1. Royalty Free: Some of them will sell you their work royalty free - this is the least hassle. The following are some inexpensive solutions.
2. Free: Some of them will give away clipart, but not for business use - if you use it on a business site, they expect you to pay. Rule of thumb: If you’re making money, they want money too.
3. Damned Free: Some clipart is completely, utterly free - but it’s usually of such low quality, that it’s not worth using. [Example]
4. Free for a Link: Some of them will let you use their clipart if you put credit to them on your site - usually an ugly banner, or gaudy link, and it looks unprofessional - but most of these still want money if you use it on a business site. [Example]
5. CD Collections: You can buy collections of clipart or photos on CD - but it’s a blind grab bag - you never really know whether what you’re getting off those things is useful or any good - often it’s garbage - you’re buying a lot of extra art you don’t need and not enough of what you do - and you end up having to supplement it w. the above sources anyway. Besides quality and quantity, you still have to worry about whether they let you use it for commercial use, and where they got it.
6. Stealing: Some people just grab any images they want off the web. You can do that from http://images.google.com but the problem is, expecially as a business, if you use these on your site, the owner of the graphic can find out and can claim damages. I wouldn’t do it on a business site, even if I know 10 people who do it (and worse 10 web designers who’ll do it and not tell you that’s where they got the stuff - leaving you at risk. You’re responsible for what’s on your site - not the designer if he made no claims for the origin of the images. And even if he did make claims, you’re still partly responsible.
7. At Your Own Risk: There are sites that have clipart that even *they* don’t know where they got it all - they tell you it’s not copyrighted, but then tell you they’re not really sure. [Example]
8. Mystery Graphics: There are sites with photos and clipart that don’t say anything at all about whether you can use them. If they didn’t specifically grant you rights, the law defaults in favor of the copyright holder - so they can claim damages at any time. [Example]
9. The a la mode solution: If you’re a real estate professional, chances are you use an alamode XSite. XSites have a significant amount of built-in photography that can be used. Most of it is real estate and related material, so if you want a hunting theme or fishing theme, it’s not going to be there. But for most users in most situations, it’s well imagined, well crafted graphics.
ADVICE: None of this is to be regarded as professional legal advice. But I always recommend, especially for business, using safe, legally-owned graphics that either:
1. You created: photos you took, drawings you made, or electronic graphics you created yourself from scratch
2. Came with rights you purchased: (e.g. either royalty free photography or work done by an artist or graphic designer - with rights explicitly granted for you to use the work on a commercial site)
Topics: Web Tools |
