Describing People for Alt Text

Resource for Instructors:

Find here a quick resource for describing people in the alt text for your images.

Title: "Describing People: Visual Details Over Identity." A stock photo of a person sitting at a table. The table has an orange cloth on it and is decorated with brightly coloured tropical flowers. Around the person are words which point out notable characteristics that describe their appearance. The words are: "sunglasses"; "short gray hair"; "red lipstick"; "white skin"; "earrings and rings"; "orange turtleneck"; and "red nails."

Audio Version: “Describing People (1)”

Text Version:

“Describing People: Visual Details Over Identity.” A stock photo of a person sitting at a table. The table has an orange cloth on it and is decorated with brightly coloured tropical flowers. Around the person are words which point out notable characteristics that describe their appearance. The words are: “sunglasses”; “short gray hair”; “red lipstick”; “white skin”; “earrings and rings”; “orange turtleneck”; and “red nails.”

Title: "Describing People: Visual Details Over Identity." A stock photo. The top half of the image is covered by a semi-transparent box of text. The text describes the image below. The text reads, "A person sitting at a table with their chin resting on one hand and a calm expression. They have white skin and short gray hair. They are wearing a bright orange turtleneck, dark sunglasses, and red lipstick."

Audio Version: “Describing People (2)”

Text Version:

“Describing People: Visual Details Over Identity.” A stock photo. The top half of the image is covered by a semi-transparent box of text. The text describes the image below. The text reads, “A person sitting at a table with their chin resting on one hand and a calm expression. They have white skin and short gray hair. They are wearing a bright orange turtleneck, dark sunglasses, and red lipstick.”

Matthew Dunleavy wearing a pink and purple polka-dot shirt under a grey blazer with red-framed glasses and a long reddish-brown beard smiling into the camera
Matthew Dunleavy

Senior Educational Developer, Faculty Excellence and Development

Matthew Dunleavy (he/him) is an educational developer and scholarly teacher with over 9+ years’ experience. He immediately joins our CTEI from York University where he was an Educational Developer with the Teaching Commons; before entering that role, he served as the Program Director of the Online Learning and Technology Consultants (OLTC) Program at the Maple League of Universities (Acadia University; Bishop’s University; Mount Allison University; and St. Francis Xavier University). In 2022, he was awarded the D2L Innovation Award in Teaching and Learning by the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education (STLHE) for this work.