Alt text for photos of people: names, roles, and when appearance matters

A college posts a photo of a nursing student mid-simulation — scrubs on, hands working, focused. The alt text reads: “student.” It’s not empty, so nothing flags it. It also throws away every reason the photo was chosen.

Photos of people are the most common images marketing teams publish and the hardest to describe well, because the obvious instinct — describe what they look like — is usually the wrong one.

Lead with who they are and what they’re doing

A person is in your feed for a reason. They won something, built something, taught something, showed up. That reason is the alt text. Name and role first, action second, setting third — appearance only if it earns its place.

If a caption sits under the image, don’t retype it into the alt text. Screen reader users get both. The caption narrates; the alt text describes what the caption can’t see.

When appearance actually matters

Ask one question: does this detail change what a sighted reader takes away? Often it doesn’t, and “a person in a red apron handing a box across a counter” says everything the photo says. Sometimes it plainly does — a post about a first-generation student scholarship, a photo demonstrating a wheelchair-accessible entrance, an image whose whole point is who is in the room.

There’s real, ongoing disagreement among accessibility practitioners about how far to go here — some argue for naming race routinely so that “unmarked” doesn’t quietly default to white, others warn about misidentifying people. The practical middle: decide once, write it down, and apply it the same way every time. Describing gender for the women in your photos and not the men isn’t neutral — the pattern itself says something.

Don’t guess

You can’t reliably read someone’s gender, ethnicity, age, or disability off a face, and a wrong guess is a wrong guess published under your brand. If you know the person, ask. If you don’t, describe what’s visible and verifiable: clothing, action, expression, setting. That’s the same reason a generated draft is a starting point, not a final answer — you know things about the photo the pixels don’t contain.

Groups, crowds, and candids

Don’t name forty people. Give the count, the setting, and the action, then name only the two or three whose identity is the point — and place them, so a listener can follow.

For a crowd, resist the roll call entirely: “About 200 people fill the quad lawn during the outdoor concert” does more work than any list of names would.

A quick check before you publish

Read the alt text aloud with the image covered. If someone who couldn’t see it would understand why you posted it, you’re done. If all they’d learn is that a person exists and appears pleased about something, go back one line and say what actually happened.