OneCard Photo Submission Guidelines

The OneCard is the official identification card of Hampshire College and is issued to every student and employee. 

The OneCard is your:


We ask that all entering students submit a picture ahead of time so that we can print your OneCard in advance and have it ready for you when you arrive. This picture will also be used in the online campus directory and Moodle course websites.

Photo Composition Requirements

We urge you to read and follow these requirements in order to avoid delays in your check-in process at Hampshire. ID photo submissions not meeting the composition requirements will not be accepted.

Make sure the photo is in color (not black and white) and contains your full head, from top of hair to bottom of chin. You should be the only subject in the photograph: no pets, objects, or other people, please. Your hands, feet, etc., should not appear in the image. You must be photographed against a plain single color background (preferably white or blue). Lighting must be such that your facial features are clearly visible.

Face front and place your shoulders square to the camera. Looking over one shoulder is not acceptable. Headwear, except for religious reasons, is not permitted. Prescription eyewear is permitted, but it must not obstruct any portion of your face or eyes. Facial expressions should be neutral or smiling: no frowning, grimacing, wide-open mouths, or silly faces, please.

ID Picture Do and Don't Examples:

ID Pictures

Technical Requirements

Entering students should note that there are many common mistakes made with electronic submissions that render them unacceptable despite meeting composition guidelines. The most common mistakes include resizing an image to meet the size requirements without maintaining the correct aspect ratio, enlarging an image of insufficient resolution so that the resulting image quality is poor, and incorrect formatting of images (e.g. use of gif, tiff, pcx formats, etc.).

In order for your picture to be accepted, your photo must be “portrait” orientation (taller than it is wide), and at least 400 pixels by 400 pixels. If scanning, please set the resolution to 300 dpi. It must be in JPEG format and meet the requirements described in the “Photo Composition Requirements” section, above.

Submitting Your Photo

We strongly encourage entering students to submit you photo before arriving to campus to prevent delays in receiving your ID. 

  1. Go to New Student Forms and log in with your Hampshire username and password
  2. Choose 'ID Photo Upload' under 'Personal Forms'.
  3. Use the Browse button to find the photo on your computer and click upload.

Within a week of submitting your photo you will receive an email letting you know if it was accepted. If it wasn't, the email will tell you why and you'll be able to try again.

Hampshire College reserves the right to reject any submission not meeting the requirements of composition, format, and quality specified.

Email onecard@hampshire.edu if you have any questions or problems.

Submission Deadline

The due date for photo submission is typically 1-2 weeks before new student arrival. Photographs received after the due date will not be processed in time for advance printing of OneCards. If you miss the deadline, or are unable to submit a digital image, you will have your picture taken and OneCard printed when you arrive on campus. This will take a little time and may delay your move-in process.