What Everybody Ought to Know About Using Stock Art (Clip Art) in Logos

Here at Studio Bold we work with a lot of clients who already have an established logo for their brand. Some of them are looking to us for something completely new; others would like us to develop a website and/or additional branding elements around their existing logo.

If you are planning on hiring an outside designer to create a logo or creating a logo yourself we recommend NOT using stock images or clip art unless you are familiar with the rules around the are you art using. The money you save won’t be worth it if you end up spending time and money due to copyright issues.

iStockPhoto.com’s terms in their Content License Agreement:

Prohibited Use #4: You may not use any of the Content as part of a trade-mark, design-mark, trade-name, business name, service mark, or logo;

iStock’s explanation:

The whole point of having a logo, business name or design mark is so that it will be unique in the marketplace. How can your logo be unique if you’re using a royalty-free file that millions of other people could have downloaded? Besides violating the iStockphoto Content License Agreement, using an image in this way also infringes upon the rights of the artist who created the file. If these aren’t reasons enough, good luck trying to develop or enforce rights in conjunction with a logo that uses a royalty-free image.

There is stock art out there that has no restrictions. Either it’s so old that the copyright has expired, or it’s being given away or sold with absolutely no copyright. Your local library or book store will most likely have a clip art book section there. And many of today’s clip art books include the art files on CDs. You may even find some copyright-free art that you swear you’ve seen before being sold on iStock.

But do keep in mind what iStock is saying about originality. Your logo or brand should be completely unique to you. So if you use copyright-free art that is available to millions, alter it or use it in a way that no one else will.

Of course the best thing to do is to avoid using stock art altogether and hire a designer to create a completely custom and unique logo for your brand.