creatives, please use alt text
one of the first things i learned in journalism school was how to write alt image descriptions.
at first, it felt tedious. every single photo or graphic required a description, and if we skipped it—or wrote a lazy one—our professors didn’t hesitate to fail us. at the time, i didn’t fully understand why it mattered. but now, i’m so grateful they drilled it into us. if i’d never gone to journalism school, i might have never known how vital alt text is.
for those unfamiliar, alt text (short for “alternative text”) is a written description of an image. it allows people who use screen readers to know what’s in an image, making content accessible to those who are blind, visually impaired, or have other disabilities that prevent them from viewing images. you're basically translating visual content into words.
as creatives, whether we’re writers, artists, photographers, or meme page admins, we have a responsibility to make our work accessible. after all, what’s the point of creating something if a huge portion of your audience can’t engage with it?
it ensures accessibility - a visually impaired person using a screen reader should be able to understand the context of an image just as easily as a sighted person.
it’s inclusive - adding alt text isn’t just for people with disabilities. sometimes, images don’t load due to bad internet, and alt text helps everyone understand what’s missing.
it’s good practice - if your work exists online, you want it to be as widely understood as possible. accessibility makes your content stronger.
okay, but how do i write alt text?
writing alt text isn’t as hard as it might seem! here are some tips:
be concise but descriptive - describe the essential elements of the image. what would someone need to know to get the gist of it?
include context - if the image is part of a larger story, explain its relevance. for example, “a black cat sitting on a pumpkin, used to illustrate a halloween-themed story.”
don’t overthink it - you don’t need to describe every pixel. just focus on the most important details.
in the era of chatgpt and microsoft copilot, we’ve got a major advantage: ai tools can now generate alt text for you!
while these tools aren’t perfect and often need a bit of tweaking, they’re a great starting point. platforms like adobe, microsoft, and even some social media apps have built-in options for generating descriptions. if you’re overwhelmed by the idea of writing alt text from scratch, let ai do the heavy lifting, and then refine it.
a creative responsibility
alt text isn’t just for journalists or big companies, it’s for all of us.
as creatives, we have the power to make the internet a more inclusive place. whether you’re posting a masterpiece, a meme, or a picture of your cat, take a moment to add alt text.
adding alt image description is SO EASY and quick and we all need to get better at adding it to our posts. i, myself, am not perfect. on here, for example, i've been really bad about writing alt image descriptions, and it's something i'm very disappointed in myself for. (i hereby pledge to do better, and please call me out for lacking in the future!)
writing alt text is not only about respecting your audience, but it's also about recognizing disabled people's right to engage with your work.
accessibility isn’t optional !!
