Images add concrete visual evidence to back up your text. Whatever you write, it is always less convincing without images. Numerous studies show that most people are more likely to believe a story or idea if there is an image accompanying the story. An image also leaves a stronger impression on us because our brain is more easily drawn to familiar real life objects or animals rather than words.
Using images in your website can be tricky. Images can brighten your website or destroy it completely. Many people are skeptical about using images because of SEO and bandwidth issues. In this article, I will explain why the worry is unnecessary if images are used correctly and Intelligently.
Appropriateness
A good image captures attention, conveys emotion and tells a story. An image can make a webpage really effective not only because of its quality as mentioned, but also how well it fits into the context of the page. For example, it would not be appropriate to use black and white images if your site is about web hosting. Black and white images might work if you use it in an artistic site.
Technical Issues
There are 3 commonly used image formats in the web today, "Gif", "Jpeg" and "Png". As we want the image size to be as small as possible, the choice of using the different formats becomes critical. Gifs are more suitable for images with lesser colours while jpegs are more suitable for images with a great range of colours, for example, real life images. The size of jpeg images can be very small when compressed. Many photo editing softwares nowsadays have a "save for web" feature which can compress jpegs efficiently. Gifs on the other hand are very effective when used as transparent overlays. However, the quality of Gif overlays is not good. Pngs can produce very high quality images or transparent overlays but the trade off is their large file size.
Aesthetics
Effective images need to have a focus. Except when striving for a particular effect, fuzzy, vague or blurry pictures look unprofessional. There should also not be too many elements in an image because it distracts the reader from knowing what the image is about.
A Balance of contrast and brightness is also important. Contrast is important to make your main character in the image stand out. For example, if you have a lady in green standing in front of a forest, the lady will not stand out because of the green. If you are using a black and white image, not enough contrast makes the entire image seem gray and washed out. The image should also not look too dark nor too bright, regardless of the subject matter.
Ocassionally, you might wish to intentionally add a special effect on your image to create a dramatic effect. Silhouetting an image can achieve eye-popping results for a minimum amount of time and money. Ready made filters and special add-on modules produce startling effect at a touch of a button. Shadows and gradients can give an image, button or icon a 3d effect which often makes it stand out prominently in your site. Using special effects can be tricky because your image will cease to be special if the effect is used too frequently. One typical example is the use of shadows and gradients. Many websites are using it so much so that the reader are focusing more on the graphics rather than the content. You need to save your best tricks for occasions that warrant them. In the worst scenario, people might be pissed off because of the images used in your website.
Cropping is one of the most powerful tool for improving the quality and impact of images. Cropping an image trims away unwanted elements and let you present the reader with only the most important part of the image. A good crop heightens the message, impact, and attractiveness of any image.
Lines of Action
Each image has its own internal geometry which can influence the look and feel of a webpage. Imagine every image you use is telling a story. Like arrows, images can lead your reader where to focus in your page. For example, if a person in the image is looking or gesturing in a certain direction, the reader's eyes will want to follow that gesture. People are very used to horizontal and vertical lines. Unless your site about design or creativity, you want the lines of action in your images to be horizontal or vertical as well. For example if you have straight objects like flag poles or tall buildings in your image, you want to make sure that they appear at a correct angle to the horizon.
Layout
Placing images in different areas of your website can have different effect on the reader. Dominant images tell readers where to look at first and there should only be one dominant image in every page. All images used in a page need to spread out in a balanced way and be placed near to its relevant content. The spacing around each images is important. Like words, images need to breath as well. Too many images cluttering together can have an adverse effect on the reader. Running several images with a common theme close to each other, and with sufficient space can impart a sense of movement and guide the reader's eye to read the content.
Conclusion
An image can convey alot more to the reader than a full page of text and is paramount if you want to the reader to believe in you. However, you have to be very careful of the image size and format to use, ie "Gif", "Jpeg" or "Png". Big image size over 50k can pissed off dialup users easily. Page elements that draw the most attention also repel the most attention if used inappropriately. |
