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Image is Everything, Except When it’s Not

By Georgy Cohen on July 19, 2011

One of the most valuable weapons we have in our web content arsenal is a good photo. However, employing photography as meaningful web content is more difficult than it sounds. Do we have the resources both to shoot photos and format them correctly for the web? Are the photos we have available to us high-quality? And how do we select the right photo for the job?

MIT’s Elizabeth McManus, writing for the university’s WebPub User Group Blog, lays out several important points to consider regarding the correct use of photography on a website. Perhaps the most important question she poses is the most essential: does the photo add value to the web page? You never know — the best photography decision you make may be to not use an image at all.

Not every page of your site will need a photo; Gratuitous use of media will work against you. … Challenge yourself to define why an image will help any given page – you should be able to clearly state the need.

Source: A Picture is Worth 1000 Words — Even on the Web by Elizabeth McManus, MIT WebPub User Group Blog, July 18, 2011

Filed Under: Archive, On topic Tagged With: content strategy

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About Georgy Cohen

Georgy Cohen is associate creative director, content strategy, at OHO Interactive in Cambridge, Mass.. Prior to OHO, she worked with a range of higher ed institutions, including stints at Tufts University and Suffolk University and as an independent consultant, on content strategy and digital communication initiatives.

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