Along with most people who build websites, I can attest that website development projects can get bogged down over what should be an easy part of the project: selecting images. What makes image selection difficult? While cost can be factor in some cases, image selection can be challenging for a variety of reasons, including doubt about the suitability of images, having too many to choose from and the all too-familiar analysis paralysis. So, what’s the best way to narrow down your options?
Consider your website’s overall “vibe”.
Is your website’s style clean and corporate, or cute and cuddly? Think of your existing brand and how images on your site can reinforce the overall aesthetic of your site along with providing visual consistency. Your chosen style can also be supported by choosing conceptual imagery instead of posed photos. Common examples of conceptual imagery are post-its with a written message, or a toy shopping cart or a still-art arrangement of relevant objects.
Who is the target audience?
If your business is providing services to a particular demographic, be sure they are represented in your imagery. A target audience demographic can mean a wide variety of factors, such as age, location or ethnicity. It can also mean contextual factors such as activity. Examples of contextual images include a mother in the grocery store, a young family on a camping trip, or an executive leading a meeting. Specific contexts and styles can be surprisingly easy to find, as most stock photo sites support detailed image searches. For example, “affluent retiree couple playing tennis” or “modern office with colorful furniture”.
Landscape or portrait?
This is a very important factor in selecting images. If you’re looking for a background image for a horizontal banner section of your site, stick to that same shape. A vertical image shape will simply not work in a horizontal section of your site. Fortunately, image shape is also a searchable attribute at stock image sites.
Dont forget color and light!
If your website has a high-contrast design with lots of vibrant colors, your images should as well. Similarly, a site with a soft pastel color scheme should have soft, light toned images to maintain visual consistency.
Consider illustrations and patterns as an alternative to photos.
A great alternative to stock photography is illustration. Using stock illustrations can be more costly, but they can give your website a unique look that sets it apart from competitors. One challenge with using illustrations and patterns is consistency—you should have enough images of the same general style to pull together the overall design.
Don’t overthink the details.
With website images, your visitors are scanning, not studying. As long as the photo is good quality and supports the design and message of the website, it’s likely a good choice. There’s so much to choose from it can be challenging to avoid analysis paralysis. If you’re unsure about how an image will work, it’s very easy to place a watermarked test in place to see how it works on the page before committing.
Work with your webmaster for help!
Feeling overwhelmed with the website development process is normal! An experienced web designer or webmaster knows great image sources and can assist in selecting the best images for your website and blog posts.
Reach out to schedule an introductory call and let’s talk about how I can help.