Image Databases
We recommend using these databases instead of Google Image search because images found from Google are often copyrighted. Even if you search for images that are “labeled for reuse,” if the image was already reused on that site without permission, then it may show up in the “labeled for reuse” search. If you do chose to use Google Image search, make sure to find large images and attribute the source.
Biodiversity Heritage Library Images – Over 150,000 Botanical and Animal Illustrations are available for free downloads from the Biodiversity Heritage Library’s Flickr (see original article here).
Every Stock Photo – This site is a search engine for free photos. The photos come from many sources and are license-specific. You can view a photo’s license by clicking on the license icon, located below and left of the photos.
Flickr CC – This search engine has a selection of photos sorted by their Creative Cloud license. Be sure to cite/attribute where necessary! (Note: Not all Flickr photos are available for reuse, so be sure to stay within this search!)
MorgueFile – This site is a free photo archive “for creatives, by creatives.” All photos found in the Morguefile archive are free for download and re-use in any work.
Pexels – This site provides high quality and completely free stock photos licensed under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0) license, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist. All photos are nicely tagged, searchable and also easy to discover through their discover pages.
pixabay – This site is curated by community of creatives, sharing copyright free images and videos. All contents are released under Creative Commons CC0, which makes them safe to use without asking for permission or giving credit to the artist.
StockSnap – This site offers beautiful, high quality stock photos for just about any use you can think of – including commercial usage – for free. With lots of categories and tags, this is a good search engine to use!
Unsplash – This site has a library of photographs that are free for commercial and non-commercial use without attribution. Photographs come from both professional and non-professional sources, but they are curated by Unsplash staff and are always high resolution
Vecteezy – This site is one of the largest vector graphics communities in the world. Most of the files are free to download and, depending on the license, free to use in your projects. A paid account allows you to use these files without attribution, otherwise, be sure to attribute these files to Vecteezy.
UW-Madison Photo Library – UW–Madison departments, faculty, staff, students, and alumni may use any of the images in this library for noncommercial communication pieces about UW–Madison. Requires a UW-Madison NetID login. *Images from this site are not available for use unrelated to UW–Madison.
Font Databases
1001 Free Fonts – A collection of mostly free fonts. Some are free for personal use and some are in the public domain. Most can also be purchased for commercial use.
dafont – Another collection of mostly free fonts. Some are free for personal use and some are in the public domain. Many can also be purchased for commercial use.
Font Matcherator – This program allows you to upload an image and find comparable fonts. It claims to be more “robust” than the program WhatTheFont (link below) in its search parameters.
Fontstruct – A website that allows you to design and create your own fonts using their online software. Includes a gallery of user-created fonts and competitions to provide ideas and inspiration.
Google Fonts – A directory of free web fonts, mixed with some paid fonts. All official Google Fonts are open source and available for use on websites and blogs. Paid fonts will take you to the website where you can purchase the font family.
typeconnection – This online “dating-style” app lets you choose typefaces that work well together and learn typographic terms, type history, and find the perfect typefaces for your project.
Typetester – This website lets you compare a large selection of fonts side to side, which can be uploaded straight from your computer. It is perfect for developing websites and testing designs for online media.
WhatTheFont – Upload an image to WhatTheFont to find the closest matches in the MyFonts database. MyFonts is also a resource for premium (fee-licensed) and some free commercial-use fonts.
Wordmark – This online app detects the fonts installed on your computer and helps you choose the ideal typeface for your project by comparing them.