Designers can learn about images by studying principles of visual design, such as color theory, composition, and typography. They should also understand the importance of choosing the right image for the content and the user. For example, images should be relevant, high-quality, and accessible to users with disabilities.
To make images better, designers should focus on selecting images that support the content and enhance the user experience. This can involve cropping, resizing, or editing images to fit the design or using filters and effects to create a consistent visual style. Designers should also optimize images for different screen sizes and devices to ensure that they load quickly and look great on any platform.
When it comes to UX design and user experience imagery, whether on websites, mobile applications, or any other digital product, many designers choose images using their personal aesthetic sense, combining them with microcopy and the rest of the interface in a way that makes sense in relation to the product purpose and branding.
The popular saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” has held sway since the early 19c, and is generally attributed to Fred R. Barnard who wrote the phrase in an article promoting the use of images in advertisements that appeared on the sides of streetcars. In many contexts, images have the power to create an emotional response in the user; this can be valuable for clarifying the brand purpose, reinforcing the product value proposition, and increasing the website or mobile app’s appeal.
When designers know how to work with imagery, they are better able to manipulate the emotional reactions of an audience. Product designs can rise or fall on the quality of their user experience images—which is why it’s vital to get it right.
Aside from websites and mobile applications, imagery is important in all kinds of product designs. As stated by Rachel Krause (a user experience specialist at the Nielsen Norman Group) in 6 Rules for Persuasive Storytelling, imagery can be incorporated into relevant case studies, charts, and photos from usability tests to give the audience something to connect with beyond the words.
Kim Flaherty (UX specialist at Nielsen Norman Group) also stated that recent research has indicated newsletter recipients expect the same high-quality imagery they encounter on the web, strongly preferring images that can be seen at a larger scale, and show detail very clearly.
In-depth understanding of the use of imagery and its psychological implications for user perception and user experience is an important aspect of design that UX designers should not underestimate.
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