Why Use Photography In Web Design?
The most obvious reason to use photography is simple: people like to look at it.
But there are other great reasons to use it in your web design, including:
User Experience
A website with just text is significantly less visually appealing than one tastefully laid out with engaging and relevant photography. While graphics are always good, photographs have that real-feel that users love. Great photographs also help to humanize a brand and create a feeling of real life connection.
Images further enhance the content you’re displaying. By choosing an appropriate accompanying or background image, your content can be given context and visual information. Photography can also serve to break up text-heavy portions of your website, allowing readers to spend more time on articles or pages without losing focus.
Customer Connection
Just as photography is likely to draw users to your website, proper use of it will keep your audience engaged and decrease your bounce rate.
Photographs create an emotional response. They stir up feelings of excitement, curiosity, reverence—whatever your brand is looking to portray, photography will assist in creating emotions that allow users to connect with your content by adding extra depth. Photography also allows for easier navigation of websites, as effective use can create a visual hierarchy, guiding users to the preferred links and products.
Brand Identity
Your brand identity will shine through with good graphic design. Consistent use of imagery and photography will create a unique visual appeal for your website and showcase the identity of your brand. By adding images that align with your brand's personality, values, and target audience, you can create a cohesive and recognizable brand presence.
eCommerce Optimization
Images are an essential part of showcasing products if your website serves as an online marketplace. Users are significantly more likely to peruse and purchase products that are well-displayed and described through visual context. If you have true to life product photographs, you’ll build trust as consumers can see exactly what they’re purchasing. You’ll also minimize returns, so it’s a win-win!
How to Implement Photography in Web Design
To make the most of your website’s photographs, follow this advice.
Keep An Eye On Quality
It’s just as important what images you use as it is that you use them.
The photographs you use must always be of high quality. If they’re not, they’ll negatively affect the user-experience. No-one wants to look at blurry or distorted images, and they look cheap and unprofessional. Not quite the impression you want to create for your brand!
Focus On Your Message
Are you a fun and funky brand? Are you more serious? Or do you want to attract a specific audience? The photographs you use will determine what your website’s message is and the audience it attracts.
For example, if you’re building a real estate portfolio site, you’ll want to use photographs of the types of houses you sell to send the right message to users. If you’re selling inner-city apartments, you wouldn't include photographs of large sprawling country houses or images of beaches, as this wouldn’t send an honest message. Instead, you’d use photographs of apartment blocks, cityscapes and streets, and other images that say exactly what you’re all about.
Tell Your Story
Don’t use photographs just for the sake of using them. Ensure they have a purpose and tell a bit of your story, whether that story is about your product, service, or the team behind your brand.
You’ve heard the expression a picture speaks a thousand words, so use your photos to do just that. Irrelevant photographs or photographs that have no correlation to your brand won’t tell your story and they’ll only lead to confusion. So, ensure that whatever images you use are part of your brand identity and tie in with what you’re trying to tell users about.
If your business isn't very image orientated or doesn't lend itself to multiple photographs then add a picture of your offices, your team, yourself, or any other places or people that form part of your story. Doing so creates a human connection and makes your site more relatable. Just don’t forget to update your photographs over time as you don’t want to come across as dated either.
Create Balance
The frenetic pace of today’s world has everyone constantly looking for balance, whether it's in the workplace, at home, or when browsing online. A good website should have a balance of color and white space to enhance the user-experience, make it easy to browse, and avoid mental fatigue. A website that’s overcrowded with images makes your site look messy and unprofessional, and this is the personality that users will then associate with your brand.
Restraint and balance are essential graphic design principles to adhere to when using photography in site design. This is one of the many reasons templates are an excellent option, as they have the right balance of text and image boxes to ensure that there’s no chance of a cluttered design.
Made For Mobile
2023 research shows that 55% of website traffic is from mobile devices. So, you need to ensure that your website and the photographs you choose are optimized for smartphones and tablets. When you use a website template builder, this is done automatically, making your site look fresh and modern.
If your site renders poorly on mobile, it will put users off and they’re likely to turn to another brand to fulfill their wants and needs. Staying on trend is crucial, and a beautifully responsive mobile site with striking photographs makes an excellent impression every time.
In conclusion, using photographs in your web design is an excellent way to make your website stand out and give it its own personality. But it must be done right. Use these tips to elevate your web design and you’ll enjoy higher engagement rates and more conversions. Good luck!