Don't look at the stock photo below
Well, did you? I have long had a personal gripe against the use of stock photos in any context, but particularly on information-based websites where you want the user to learn something. The image shown on the top left of screen - the most viewed part of a webpage - has nothing to do with any of the points I am making in text. That is typical for how stock photos are used online.
When creating a webpage on a given topic, whether it be cars, insurance, ice cream cones or anything else, many communicators add an attractive photo in an attempt to engage the user and make their webpage look 'professional'. However there is strong evidence that suggests that stock photos do nothing except distract the user from the main content. This is something you often see on investment websites, especially photos of happy retired people using a laptop by the pool, which is, of course, a completely unrealistic situation. (The photo shown here could easily be found on a webpage about family life or kids' health etc.)
Stock photos draw the attention of users away from the text that you want them to read, instead of supporting the message with a useful visual representation of the message, which is what effective visual elements can achieve.
I encourage all online communicators to forget about stock photos and instead create simple visuals that support your message. When you're about to add a stock photo to your site, first ask yourself if the situation depicted in the photo happens in real life? And do you want people looking at the image more than your text?
There is a place for using photos on information-based websites, but they should be of real people and be used to show the personality behind a website or to show an example an event (e.g. a sporting event).
When creating a webpage on a given topic, whether it be cars, insurance, ice cream cones or anything else, many communicators add an attractive photo in an attempt to engage the user and make their webpage look 'professional'. However there is strong evidence that suggests that stock photos do nothing except distract the user from the main content. This is something you often see on investment websites, especially photos of happy retired people using a laptop by the pool, which is, of course, a completely unrealistic situation. (The photo shown here could easily be found on a webpage about family life or kids' health etc.)
Stock photos draw the attention of users away from the text that you want them to read, instead of supporting the message with a useful visual representation of the message, which is what effective visual elements can achieve.
I encourage all online communicators to forget about stock photos and instead create simple visuals that support your message. When you're about to add a stock photo to your site, first ask yourself if the situation depicted in the photo happens in real life? And do you want people looking at the image more than your text?
There is a place for using photos on information-based websites, but they should be of real people and be used to show the personality behind a website or to show an example an event (e.g. a sporting event).
Example: About us or the plant
The New South Wales Department of Education and Training's webpage About us has loads of links because it is a very large organisation. They have done a reasonable job of chunking those links into subcategories on this webpage. However, can someone please explain to me why they have included a random stock photo of a plant in someone's hands? (See the image on the right.) This stock photo stirs up thoughts of environmental issues if anything - but is completely out of place and adds no value to this content. All it does is distract the user from trying to work out which link to click on.
I cannot explain why this stock photo would have been included here. Is it a reference to the 'Environmental sustainability' link on the left column of the webpage? If so, why is it at the bottom right of screen?
I suspect this is a case of someone trying to make an otherwise functional webpage look 'pretty'.
The New South Wales Department of Education and Training's webpage About us has loads of links because it is a very large organisation. They have done a reasonable job of chunking those links into subcategories on this webpage. However, can someone please explain to me why they have included a random stock photo of a plant in someone's hands? (See the image on the right.) This stock photo stirs up thoughts of environmental issues if anything - but is completely out of place and adds no value to this content. All it does is distract the user from trying to work out which link to click on.
I cannot explain why this stock photo would have been included here. Is it a reference to the 'Environmental sustainability' link on the left column of the webpage? If so, why is it at the bottom right of screen?
I suspect this is a case of someone trying to make an otherwise functional webpage look 'pretty'.