The power of images in design

The value of using good images or photos for web & design.

It is the first thing people will see!

Everybody makes photos these days, mostly with the camera on their smartphone. Whether on vacation or a picture of the cat in the garden, capturing moments is something everybody does. Because these moments can give a great feeling looking back on later in life. High quality photos or images are important for companies. Because good images attract the attention of people. Also bad photos can attract attention, but that is the attention in a negative way. Something that nobody wants, but unfortunately often happens, by choosing images that don’t fit the context or lack quality.

Since the start of websites, images already had an important role. An image or photo on a website attracts the eye mostly direct before reading anything. If this doesn’t give the right feeling the visitor may leave the website in a second. It is comparable with the cover of a magazine, it must stand out between all the other products otherwise people won’t have any interest. The first thing people see is key. Especially nowadays everything is fast and direct, good images are even more important than ever before. For any website it is therefore a must to take this very serious and think about it.

Visible and findable

Adding high-quality photos or images to the homepage or sub-pages such as news articles not only make a website more beautiful. They also makes it easier to find the website in Google. A search engine like Google will index articles or pages based on source texts, which are also in images. It is therefore smart to add a so-called alt-text to images. This gives a better ranking in search engines based on the code of the image. Note that for some businesses using only a few or no images works better to let the user focus on the text. So it is important to make the right choices in the design phase. The advice is to use good images that match the feeling or expectations of the target group. Making the wrong choices will have a negative effect. It is therefore also wise to test the images, if possible in the design. Test the images with a small group of people and see how they react and take this in the process of picking the best images.

“…make a website more beautiful, but also easier to find.”

Using stock photos or stock images

The most common and easiest way to get good images is to use stock photos.

There many sites available where professional images can be used for free or available for a low price. Keep in mind that most photos and images can also be edit if desired. Here is a overview of websites to get an idea of which are popular when it comes to free stock photos and images. Note that most sites have free photos and images but often a larger part of these sites have a pay per item system or something like a subscription.

List of popular stock photo websites:

• Freeimages.com (200,000+ free images)
• Pexels.com (40,000+ free images, mostly high quality)
• Stocksnap.io (15,000+ free images, mostly high quality)
• Unsplash.com (10,000+ free images)
• Pixabay.com (5,000+ free images)

Creating your own photos

Stand out from competitors by creating your own content.

If there is a budget, mostly the case in larger projects, it is advised to use photos taken by a professional photographer. Also the exclusivity can be guaranteed that way, nobody else with the same pictures or images. It’s also a way to stand out from the rest. The perfect picture that fits exactly with the text, and therefore the message, is very valuable. With the help of a photographer, business processes can also be visualized and employees can be photographed on a professional way. This radiates the professionalism of the organization across the entire business. It has been proven that customers are more likely to purchase when they immediately see a face with the product or service. But whether chosen for own photos or stock photography, the quality must always be of a high quality and suitable with the content. It must connect with the message and if possible with a personal twist.