The Design of Photographs (Use Stock Art part 2)
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008 | Art, Design Inspiration, Web Design
Stock art is not just about picking up random images as we touched upon in our previous post. Stock art is about deep and thorough design and thought. Every image presented on your website has to be carefully selected and should discourage the ideals of stereotypical information. Placing a girl with a headset for the “Customer Support” team is like committing electronic suicide. These harsh stereotypical and un-imaginative images will only serve to provide a negative, cheesy and wholly unprofessional look to your website. It is in fact, these types of images that people will envision when you talk about stock art, and it is these myths we must endeavour to dispel.
When considering each individual piece of stock art you wish to use, you need to ask yourself a series of questions. For example; is this concept a stereotype? Is this image relevant? Is this picture artistic, unique and interesting? Will this image appeal to the target audience of your website? You need to satisfy all of these questions before you can consider if the image is suitable.
Get a good feel for the imagery that the competition uses. Research websites that have content like your own and what kind of images they are using to convey their own ideas and products. You may find a wide range of different viewpoints stemming from one single concept. Examine which images most appeal to you and why they work and alternatively examine the ones that are uninteresting and have a negative impact on the company and think about why that is.
Creating the right blend of stock art in your website is like a well put together collage. You can have some interesting splashes of colour and random images that don’t jump out on their own as relevant or immediately associated with the concept in question. When you put them all together with a well designed website you can create a beautiful and stunning collage that immediately conveys all the right messages and ideas
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