- Images let your customer connect information with their lived experiences
- Tap into your customer’s emotions for improved memory
- Images allow you to communicate key information quickly and effectively
In recent decades, the field of psychology has increasingly shed light upon the human experience of perception, how each one of us makes sense and respond to the world around us. The sense of sight allows us to assess risks and embed memories and information into our brains for quick and easy access. Visuals provide us with tools for a richer experience that goes beyond survival, it helps us create meaning. So why do we need to consider the use of images when it comes to creating our websites? At SeeThrough Web, we see more and more that establishing a brand’s identity is all about telling a story where our clients can find themselves and where they can identify meaningfully. Images allow us to tell stories that can do this in the most effective way.
Visual Perception: The Basics
Judging our surroundings: Our brains are always making educated guesses about how close, far, or safe something is. In this process, we complement the present with the past, that is, we remember our previous experiences to judge new ones. When we use an image in our website designs, we tap into our customer’s bank of experiences. We open a relational channel for them so that the process of decision making takes place in connection with something concrete: their lived reality.
Emotions and memory: A number of psychological studies have established that we remember information and situations that had a great emotional impact on us. Images affect us emotionally because they can appeal to those memories or can serve to connect information to emotions. Customers are more likely to remember the information on our website if they connect it to something emotionally positive and images can provide us with a way to make sure that this happens.
Fast and effective: Our brains are accustomed to processing visual information at higher speeds than what it processes from other senses since out of all the information that comes into our brains, 90% of is visual. Most people can remember only about 20% of what they read, 10% of what they hear but can retain about 80% of what they see. Making visual content a central part of your website can communicate large amounts of information fast and effectively since it is presented in a way that your potential customers can easily absorb and process.
Key Strategies:
Here are some key points to consider as you consider the use of images in your website design.
Keep it relevant: Adding just any image to your site without following a specific web design strategy can actually do more harm than good. Always ask yourself: What story does the image tell? And, is it consistent with my brand image?
Keep it appealing: The visual component of your website needs to invite your audience to enter into a process of communication and some things have been proven to be more effective than others. For example, human beings are drawn to visuals that include human faces. Our brains register faces as something familiar, something we naturally want to connect with. Here you can ask yourself: What emotions can the story that the image tells potentially evoke?
Keep it practical: It is vital that your images are directly connected not only to your content but also to meeting a specific need. For example, it is always a good idea to include screenshots or diagrams when you are trying to help your reader address a problem.
Remember the old saying “A picture is worth a thousand words”? Images are also worth much more than you might think in financial gains for your business as website traffic and sales increase. We believe that effective marketing can only happen when customers engage, when they not only see something of value but can also find points of convergence with their own experience. As you set off to create an appealing and effective website for your company, you are more than likely to find many challenges since the world of technology surrounds our potential audiences with endless amounts of information.
Our website design team at See Through Web can help you navigate these challenges by maximizing the impact of the visual component on your website. Discover with us the world of opportunities that are available as you continue to create engaging and meaningful visual experiences for your customers.