The Silent Avatar Speaks

I’m talking web image here ( not personal image)

As someone who designs websites a significant portion of my time is spent on the Internet.

Through scanning thousands of websites, will the sole purpose of looking at the site from a designers perspective, I’ve come to know a good image from a poor image and downright %^$# awful images.

Images are the first thing the eye is drawn to, and a website with lots of graphics is encouraging to form an opinion about the website just by viewing the images.

The use of images sets the “tone” or theme of the website. We’ve all seen websites which are bright and colourfully presented, and other websites which are dark, and very business like.

We’ve also seen our fair share of “home-made” websites, produced by what I call web “hobbyists”.

These crudely designed works of art (yes.. they are a creation of their author) , brings to mind how many people haven’t discovered Joomla! or Drupal CMS websites. These “hobbyists” sites just make me cringe.

Often times I have seen a great product image, but completely lost in amongst a haze of a dozen different fonts, and hideous blinking banners and guest books.

Anyway.. that’s getting a little off track… Images.. ah yes…

Good images convey the intent of the image.

If the intention is to show a good product image, it should be a great product image.

Take into consideration how the image presents from a site visitors perspective.
Does it “sell itself”?

Consider a suitable size of the image.
Consider the size in context to its surrounds.
Consider the impact of the image
Is it too big or too small?

Consider editing the image in something like Photoshop, where you can enhance the brightness, contrast and sharpen the image so it is crisper.

Consider the background of the image. Does it detract from the subject (like a product), or does the background enhance the product or subject?

If using product images are the images all the same size and is the subject centered? Images which are taken without considering uniformity in the site presentation produce sites which are a bit “higgledy piggeldy”.

These are critical issues you need to consider when taking photos to add to a website.

An image really does speak a thousand words…

It tells a site visitor if they are dealing with a professional, the images portray the “tone of the site”, they evoke emotion in the site visitor, and Text Images can instruct site visitors what to do and a way which engages them with the site.

Great images don’t just happen (unless you are on a sunset beach in the Caribbean each day) – they are planned. And if you have a product plan to sell your product in the best possible way, with the best possible image.

Having said that…

How many words does a video speak?  Yep.. and that’s where we are heading. Though images will be around for a while.

have a good look at your website and consider some of the points I have offered when next looking at your site. You may find with a few changes in images, your whole site can take on a new look and a new “vibe”.

What do you think?

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