Imaging and photographies role in design

Imagery can create a sense of brand identity, such as setting the tone of whether something is playful or serious. As it can have such an impact, it has an important role in design. There are a range of roles which it may play as, depending on the brand and the tone that aim to set:

• Interest and attractiveness: Images gravitated peoples attention. In fact, I found that some research shows that people interpret images up to 60,000 times faster than text, as most of the things humans remember is in the form of images. Therefore, it makes sense that brands use images to spark interest among audiences.
• Illustrate ideas and products: Brands often have services and products which they want consumers to buy into. Using images to show these makes products more attractive to buyers as they can clearly see what they are getting. Brands like Apple tend to use highly detailed images of things which ordinary customers may not even understand, such as the internal structure of computers, to generate curiosity and appeal.
• Communicate information or data: Images can be used to present a message, such as information or data that may be valuable to consumers.
• Brand identity and personality: Brands who use professional and edited images may be regarded as more luxurious, as people interpret good quality images and photography with good quality services. Less professional images, such as something taken on a mobile, of low quality or with distractions in the background sets a less formal tone and reflects a poor brand.

Aesthetic Usability

All of the above can be tied into aesthetic usability: this suggests that if something looks petter, people will perceive it as easier to use. Although pictures of a product may not accurately reflect what it is like to actually own it, users see refined products as the simplest to understand. For example, people see apple products as sleek and smooth to operate, even if they are no less difficult to similar devices from other brands.

Decorative Imagery

Decorative images are often used on websites, apps and more digital media forms. Decorative imagery can be great, as it sets the sone immediately for people to receive before they read any on-screen text. Decorative imagery differs from information imagery because it isn’t nessescary to understand something and doesn’t have major meaning, instead it’s simply a tool to make things more visually appealing.

However, deoorative images shouldn’t be overused to prevent repetitive stock photography. This is something that I’ve noticed on websites before, as stock images are often easy to recognise as it’s hard to find an image of exactly what you’d like to present.

When using imagery

There are a range of things that designers should consider before using imagery.

• Using high quality images is essential for ensuring a good experience on larger device sizes. This is something I've noticed in my own work before when, particularly with bitmap images, an image looks poor when you scale it up for use.
• Choosing the right file type, size and carefully considering scale is essential for making sure it can be seen in multiple view ports. If this isn't considered, someone with a device different to an app or website is created on may have a very different experience than the designers considered.
• The context should be considered before using images. For example, a website for a restaurant has an aim: to create appeal for their foods. Therefore, based on the context, images should showcase the food.
• Optimising images, or reducing the file size, prevents sites from having high loading times. This is particularly important if multiple images of a high resolution are used.
• Accessibility can be ensured by adding an alt text to HTML. This means that users with a screenreader or hover over the text can have a description of what is on screen, making it so those with visual impairments do not miss out on information.
• Images used should have high colour and contrast so that they’re easy to see for as wide of an audience ask possible. 246 million people have low vision and 300 million are colour blind, so failing to consider how others may see a website or product could potentially exclude millions of consumers. Designers should aim to use a contrast checker for all their designs to ensure appropriate contrasts, particularly in background and text.

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