Create a Unique Brand Identity with Custom Images
The images you use create your visual identity, especially where websites are concerned. Using custom images not only gives a more personal visual experience for your visitors, but also aids message communication creates a flow, and encourages social media sharing. Correctly selected, images can reinforce messages, aid explanations, and create emotive reactions. Whether you are using photographs, graphics, icons, or simple background imagery custom images are the way forward.
Custom Graphics v Stock Images
It is difficult to find anything more relatable or descriptive than a photograph. If you are using photographs on your site be sure to avoid stock photos if you have the opportunity to do so. Whilst there is nothing wrong with stock images, they reflect the views and perceptions of whoever took them. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it is important that those words are your own if they are going to represent your ideals. Another downside of stock images is that they are not unique. If your customers find the same images on your site as that of your competitor then your identity is completely lost. Using your own photographs means that you can show your customers something new that truly reflects your company and sends the intended messages. Of course, custom photography can be expensive, but you have control over the final image, don’t have to spend hours sourcing imagery, and the images that you do take build into a library that you own and can use without limitations or time constraints.
Personalise Your Designs
Using custom photography also creates believability. Time and time again you can click on the contact us page and see the same generic image of a supposed employee a little too Photoshopped. Creating genuine images can create a connection between your customers and your team, they put faces to the words and your company becomes instantly more personable.
Hiring a professional artist or graphic designer to create some bespoke visual content immediately injects your website with personality. The bespoke nature also means that whilst you might not be able to create the images yourself, you have complete control over the finished appearance. This means that your finished images can be incredibly specific and singularly represent your company. Commissioned work can be more expensive in the short term, but it aids in the creation of a strong visual identity that customers can instantly connect with and identify. These images form the backbone of your brand and often capture an audience and increase visibility way beyond what content alone would be able to do.
There are No Design Barriers
Bespoke graphics don’t have to be restricted to large banner-type images that scream your brand. Logos, icons, promotional sidebars, and background imagery can be used alongside each other to create a cohesive and unified site. Every visual element can be employed to aid your identity and help it stand out from the crowd. And just because you are using bespoke images on your website, doesn’t mean that they have to be clean-cut digital images; hand-drawn graphics can be employed and edited just as easily create a truly crafted appearance. By using the same style of imagery across your site, you can tie all of the individual elements together and your pages will flow much better. Whether photographed or illustrated, such a strong combination or stylistic similar images shows free attention to detail and really care for your site. Any customer that views such a well-crafted and professional site is going to believe that the services and products will also reflect the same high quality.
Stand Out From The Crowd
Following our recent rebrand, RAD SEO now employs bespoke graphics across every detail of our site. The same bold imagery that came out of the logo redesign has been reapplied to the other visual elements. Headers are used to capture the topic of each page, all of the blog posts also use bespoke headers to highlight their topics, our Google Algorithm history page uses custom images to illustrate the evolution of each algorithm to date, and even our social media accounts use bespoke headers to reiterate the RAD SEO image. The use of custom blog images does mean that the creation of new graphics is an ongoing process, but RAD SEO’s posts are instantly recognisable and deliver the brand identity.
Strengthen Your Visual Identity
Custom images create and aid the visual identity of your brand. The more elements of your site that embrace this, the stronger your visual identity becomes. Using bespoke images gives your viewers an idea of who you are as a company, and the ideals you represent. Images can create the human connection between your team and your customers, engaging your audiences and encouraging them to read more. A cohesive and well-crafted website relies on a strong, unified identity that stands out from the crowds and proclaims the high quality of your business. Personality, care, professionalism, and believability are qualities that simply cannot be conveyed through the use of stock images. Be individual and where possible use custom images in your web design.
