Sourcing, Preparing & Managing Assets
beginner20 minLearning objectives
- Source royalty-free written copy, stock images, icons and video
- Prepare assets: trim video, compress files, select appropriate file formats
- Manage assets using a logical folder structure and naming conventions
Learn
B2 — Asset sourcing and management
Sourcing responsibly
Never use written copy, an image, icon or video you don't have the right to use. Royalty-free sources like Unsplash, Pexels, Flaticon, Font Awesome and Pixabay provide assets free to use — but always check the specific licence (some still require attribution). Written copy you haven't written yourself needs the same care — either write it yourself (Lesson 11) or only use text you have a genuine right to reuse.
Preparing assets for the web
Large, unoptimised files slow a site down badly. Before adding any asset to your build:
- Compress images — aim for well under 1MB each without visible quality loss (tools: TinyJPG, Adobe Express).
- Trim and compress video — keep clips focused and under roughly 50MB (tools: HandBrake).
- Choose the right format — JPEG for photos, PNG for images needing transparency, SVG for icons/logos that need to scale without blurring.
Managing assets
A messy asset folder makes a build slower and more error-prone. Use a logical folder structure and consistent naming conventions, e.g.:
assets/
├── images/
│ ├── img_home_hero.jpg
│ └── img_product_tshirt.jpg
├── video/
│ └── vid_welcome.mp4
└── icons/
└── icon_basket.svg
Consistent, descriptive names (img_home_hero.jpg, not IMG_4821.jpg) make it far easier for you — and anyone reviewing your evidence — to find the right file quickly.
Task
Source, compress and organise the assets your site map says you'll need, following the naming pattern above. This is direct evidence for B.P4/B.M4/B.D2.