The role of images in website design
Why use images?
For businesses currently in the process of building a new website, the role of images is fundamental. Well-chosen and strategically placed images are crucial in creating a cohesive and balanced website, adding a professional touch while reinforcing the brand's identity. A good selection of images not only enhances the overall design but also offers a practical way to guide visitors through the site's content. In this comprehensive guide, we explore practices and strategies to help businesses incorporate purposeful and effective imagery into their web design.
Images with purpose
Each image on a website must serve a specific purpose. It is wise to avoid falling into the trap of adding images for the sake of it as this can make your website feel incoherent. Think about how you can aid the user's understanding of your topic, product or service by adding imagery. Understanding the different categories can help in making an informed decision:
Informational or Infographic Images
Brand Images, Logos, or Icons
Visuals for Aesthetic Appeal and Audience Connection
Product Images
Instructional or Tutorial Images
Background or Decorative Images
Team or Staff Images
Images & design
In the design process, images hold the same weight as selecting colours, fonts, and layouts, serving as vital components that contribute to a cohesive and professional website appearance. When embarking on the design process, it can be extremely useful to already have a set of images, or at least an idea so you can help the designer understand your vision. Adding images to an already-designed site is much harder than building a site around them.
Colour and consistency
Colours within images contribute significantly to the overall visual appeal of the website and should align with the brand's colour palette to ensure a coherent and harmonious design. Consistent images across the website help create a unified and seamless browsing experience.
Thoughtful content planning
Thoughtfully curated images help complement the website's narrative and effectively communicate the intended message. Each image should be clear in its design and free of unwanted objects and subjects. While this is typically the responsibility of a photographer, here are some useful tips if you are taking the photographs yourself.
Framing: Ensure that the framing effectively highlights the subject and maintains a balanced composition, avoiding any distractions or unnecessary clutter within the frame.
Content Relevance: Verify that the image content aligns with the website's theme and message, omitting any irrelevant or unprofessional elements that may detract from the intended narrative.
Image Quality: Prioritise high-quality images with clear details, crisp resolution, and appropriate lighting, reflecting the professional standards of the brand and website.
Orientation: Assess whether the image orientation (landscape or portrait) effectively suits the website layout and enhances the overall visual appeal without compromising on the image's message or quality. Typically, landscape images will required for web design, but be sure to provide a mixture.
Image optimisation
Image optimisation is crucial for improving website performance and user experience, significantly influencing a website's search engine visibility and overall SEO. By optimising images effectively, businesses can speed up website loading times, enhance accessibility, and create a more engaging visual experience for visitors. Implementing image optimisation techniques not only ensures a smoother browsing experience but also contributes to higher search engine rankings, resulting in increased organic traffic and improved online visibility for the website.
Image Size and Format
Efficient image size and format selection are fundamental in optimising website performance. Implementing the following strategies ensures effective image optimisation:
Compression Techniques: Utilise reliable compression tools such as tinypng.com to reduce image file sizes without compromising quality, leading to faster loading times. Aim for a file size of 500kb or below.
Appropriate File Type: Choose the most suitable file type, such as JPEG, PNG, or WebP, based on the specific image requirements, ensuring a balance between image quality and file size.
JPEG - Photographs and complex images.
PNG - Images with transparent backgrounds or sharp edges.
WebP - High-quality images with smaller file sizes. Not suitable for all browsers.
GIF - Animated images or simple graphics.
SVG - Scalable graphics and logos.
Standardised Image Sizes: Set consistent image dimensions across the website to maintain a uniform visual appearance and facilitate a seamless browsing experience for users.
Descriptions and tags
Providing descriptive and well-structured details for images enhances accessibility and search engine visibility. Consider the following elements for effective image description:
Image Alt Tags: Include descriptive alt text for each image, conveying its content and context to users with difficulty viewing images.
Filename Optimisation: Ensure that each image has a clear and relevant filename, reflecting its content and purpose, which not only aids in organising the website's media library but contributes to SEO efforts.
Captions: Add informative captions where necessary to provide supplementary information and context, enhancing the overall user experience and understanding of the image's relevance within the website's content.
Responsive design
Implementing responsive design techniques for images ensures optimal display across various devices and screen sizes. The following practices contribute to a seamless and adaptable user experience:
Srcset Attribute: Integrate the srcset attribute to specify different image sizes for different devices, enabling the website to serve appropriately scaled images based on the user's device, thereby enhancing visual consistency and performance.
Structured data integration
Incorporating structured data, specifically schema markup, for images provides additional context to search engines, improving the website's visibility and search result rankings.
By implementing these comprehensive image optimisation practices, businesses can significantly enhance website performance, accessibility, and user engagement, contributing to a more seamless and enjoyable browsing experience for visitors.
Advanced techniques
Images in XML Sitemaps
Integrating images into XML sitemaps improves SEO and boosts visibility. Advanced techniques include using the image XML tag to provide crucial image details like URL, caption, title, and location for effective indexing and display in search results. Submitting the image XML sitemap to search engines enables efficient image crawling and indexing, increasing the likelihood of images appearing in search results and driving more traffic to the website. Learn more about including Images in XML sitemaps.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Implementing a CDN enhances image loading speeds and overall website performance. Use a CDN to efficiently deliver images globally, reducing latency and improving loading times for users worldwide. Leverage CDN caching to store and deliver frequently accessed images, reducing the load on the origin server and ensuring a smoother browsing experience for visitors. All websites built by Rifle take advantage of a CDN.
Obtaining Images
To obtain images for your website, consider hiring a photographer or graphic designer to create custom visuals. If you have the skills, you can create the images yourself. However, if you need assistance, various resources offer both free and paid images that you can use on your website. Some of these resources include:
Unsplash.com
Kaboompics.com
Pexels.com
Pixabay.com
Rawpixel.com
Just make sure you check the licensing arrangement when downloading images online. Some services demand you edit the images before use and some are happy for you to use them as they are. Some will also ask you to credit the photographer, which if you are trying to create a professional-looking site doesnt look very good.
