How to get great graphic designs using stock images
“A picture is worth a thousand words,” the saying goes. No matter what you’re designing, an image can grab attention and deliver your message better than carefully crafted text. With the affordability of high-quality, royalty-free imagery—wherein one fee grants you unlimited usage for promotional purposes—you have no excuse not to use imagery in your designs, even if you can’t create it yourself. Here are the kinds of images to look for and how to use them for greater impact.
Use striking imagery: You have precious few moments to grab someone’s attention, so use unusual, powerful, and colorful imagery (and when appropriate, humorous imagery). If you can’t snag a person’s attention, they won’t read your text. This is especially true in direct marketing and Web marketing: Because it’s unsolicited, getting a reader to notice your piece, much less read it, is particularly difficult.
Let the image(s) tell the story: If you’re promoting a person, place, or thing, then anchor that image prominently in your design. For example, when you’re promoting a speaker for your computer club, make that person’s head shot the focal point. When you’re touting a product, pair a product photo with imagery of people using it. This arrangement helps your audience visualize using your product, which boosts sales.
Top: These photos promote Canada’s Whistler Mountain as a ski destination better than any text. Bottom: Placing ski photos in a horizontal line leads the audience’s eyes straight to the product shot.
If you don’t have a good product photo, try finding a stock image instead of staging a photo shoot. For example, if you’re promoting a piano store, a photo of piano keys might do the trick; for a cooking school, a photo of spices separated into individual bowls might work. It’s also important to make sure that the image you pick sends the right message, as the following example shows. If you’re at a loss as to what kind of imagery to include, consider any “tools of the trade” that people use in that particular business. For example, a tailor might use a needle, a landscaper might use a mower, and a carpenter might use a saw.
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