Bay Area Graphics & Marketing

As principal of Bay Area Graphics&Marketing; a small website design firm in the Tampa Bay area, I am always thinking of time saving and money saving strategies to help business owners get the best bang for their buck. When it comes to building affordable, custom websites I think it’s fair to say that there are far too many designers who are using “templates” forgetting one of the most important factors of business…The “brand”. Additionally, some firms are pricing basic website design in-line with brain surgery. Now to be fair, it’s true that most people who hire a designer don’t fully appreciate the time that can be involved once the project gets off the ground. Initially, it all seems so effortless and most of the time it is but often it’s the smallest tasks that eat away at the clock.

Let’s talk photos, images and logos for your website.

There is one common frustration that many in my industry can agree upon--- The “photo” dilemma. It’s an issue that keeps some up at night staring at countless numbers of clip art catalogues.

Many of my clients come to the design table with no copy and no artwork. As a published freelance writer, providing the copy is a breeze. I can muster up blocks of meaningful text worth publishing on just about any subject. Someone once told me that if I wrote about Grandma’s horrid liver and onions it would most likely sound delicious! Finding an enticing photograph that agrees with her website layout, one with proper resolution for the web and agreeable colors to match her theme-- is an altogether different story. Rest assured-- if it’s out there, I’ll find it. This brings me to my point---

The most time consuming task of my job as a website designer is that of the "photo" search. I am a bit of a perfectionist and lean towards obsessive compulsiveness when it comes to my work. Locating the perfect “visual” for clients’ websites causes me to analyze the art options to death. I spend an enormous amount of time on this one task alone. Choosing the photo, designing the logo, tweaking, optimizing, polishing and so on and so forth---has kept me up for days at a time. Maybe it’s due to my marketing background and the realization that consumers are visually motivated. But if they can be motivated, then they can also be un-motivated and that is always my concern. What’s the big deal?

The photographs, artwork, clipart or logos on a client’s website must be the right dimension, crisp, attractive and it must naturally flow with the client’s website content. Most importantly, the visuals should portray the company’s message and reek of branding and integrity. “That’s far out there!” you say? Well, yes…yes, it is. But, it’s only far out there if you’re not a website designer with an eye for art and a background in marketing. Let the pictures tell the story, still stands true in many cases. Often times the greater challenge of website development is rendering artwork that has been provided, suitable for the web . Often it’s tough to explain why the particular clip art that my client is in love with, won't work for one reason or the other. It's heartbreaking when I have to tell them…it can’t be done and a suitable replacement cannot be found. 

I think many conscientious designers feel much like I do when it comes to the quality of photos or logos on a website-- Especially if they truly care about their client’s final product and bottom line. Website design, although a career for some for others it is a heartfelt labor of love. A website has to “look” awesome. They don’t call it “site” design for no reason, right? Compliance to all of the ever changing rules of web design is a must but-- it can often take from the overall appearance of a website design and structure. Often, the addition of quality graphics to the site is the cure to boring CSS compliant sites. (No offense to the CSS gurus!) But-- true quality isn’t just a photo that you think will look great for your product or service. It has to be right for the web and in-line with the overall design. My client’s who do come with photos in hand just aren’t aware of the differences between print or web graphics and may have no knowledge of either.  Here are a few quick tips--

Save your photographic images as JPEGs and your graphical images as GIFs using 256 colors, or less. Save images as PNGs only if you are sure your viewers will be using a newer browser as not all browsers support this format. Try saving in different formats and sizes so you can first see the difference. It saves your website designer time-- saving you money. Set the resolution at 72 DPI as monitors can’t project anything higher and higher resolutions will result in slower download time. If the image is compressed for faster download time, remember that JPGs will lose some quality when compressed, where GIFs do not.   When you choose clipart, be sure to opt for scalable art. This means it can be scaled up or down to some degree without losing clarity.

Be sure to know what your website’s color schemes will be prior to choosing your artwork preferences, or vice- versa. Often clients will want a certain color scheme but they’ll provide photos with too many contrasting colors in opposite tones. Like I said, not everyone who wants a website will need to know these things but for those who intend on being proactive about their website design, then these are just a few tips that will help your designer and may help you save some money in the end!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me or visit us at websitestampabay.com!