It’s true that graphic designers have a lot of training to make exciting images for web sites (and at a cost). But even web site owners can learn a few simple techniques. Mark at Newfangled.com sent out a handy pdf of ways to use stock images and make it your own. Check it out!

https://www.newfangled.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/6-Quick-Tricks-to-Making-Stock-Imagery-Look-Custom-1.pdf

A year ago I wrote a post linking to an article by Pantone on the new colors for 2018. Pantone used an image on their blog that I copied and and pasted into my post. I could have easily paid ten dollars for a stock photo that would have been just as good. See recommendations below. Six months later, I was contacted by a company representing the photographer whose copyrighted image was tacked inside the image. (The photo was of a bulletin board and this fashion image was on the board.)

There are companies whose sole purpose is to scan the internet for photos made by their clients. The client photographers pay them for this service and possibly a percent of the collection. When there is a result, a letter is sent out demanding a large payment with the threat of a lawsuit. The amount seems punitive, especially given the resources of a small company. But the law does not specify what is fair. Up to tens of thousands of dollars can be demanded legally.

Recently a client asked me what to do amount a scam he encountered. He writes posts twice a month and sometimes looks for free photos on the internet. A site offering free downloads fined him for not logging in and filling out a form first. A company in California is asking for $3000! He is in the process of working out a deal. These scheming companies “fish” which seems fraudulent to me.  Lawmakers need to address this “out of control” situation as soon as possible.

I admit to wrong doing. It is a bad practice to try to use free photos without permission. Artists deserve to be paid for their good work. The result of my mistake? I negotiated the amount down to something affordable, but by no means cheap. (I found that help from a copyright lawyer was just as high or higher than the fine). Lesson learned… and I was glad to leave the whole experience behind me.

Some fair free photo companies we recommend are Unsplash.com, Pixabay.com and Pexels.com. Stock Photos for reasonable fees are iStock.com and Big Stock.com.

TEXT
You may already have text from a previous website that you want to update or you may have none at all. Brochures, reports and other publications may offer you a good start. The designer or content developer will take this to edit into something usable for the new website, keeping in mind what key words need to be added for search engine optimization. This is a start and you will have to involved in the editing to make it work for you.

GRAPHICS AND PHOTOGRAPHY
If you have a logo, that is a good place to start for color exploration. Not having a good logo may provide an opportunity to include that design in your agreement. Photographs you may already have should enhance your color palette and brand. If you do have good photography, the designer will suggest or select the ones that will be placed on the home page. Another option is to purchase high quality photographs from a stock agency. Designers will look for photographs with the right colors and style for your site.

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Mapping out the layout is key to good user experience. Your visitors will need a clear understanding of what you do and how you will help them. Your designer will create a design that provides a satisfying pathway for a visitor who follows through with a call of email to find out more.

SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH
When all the functionality is set and the layout is finished, your designer will launch the site and make sure everything is working correctly. Flow, typos, links and software kinks need to be worked out. Your site should have a security certificate and your new site should be added to search engines and social networks. Incoming marketing efforts can begin to provide traffic to your site which can then be tracked.

Your involvement as website owner is necessary to achieve good results from your website from the very beginning to the end!

I recommend Robert to clients who are impressed with his work. Check out his new site at https://schoenphoto.com.

But what if the images are distracting? There are many example of images leaving you with a bad feeling. The use of color and typography is lacking or over the top. Sometimes, a dark background or image makes the text difficult to read (see example right). Or, perhaps, there is no typography… i.e. the type is the same size. This website owner is in serious need of a remake. He or she is wasting their money and/or actually turning business away. These are obviously the extreme of a terrible website design. But, How do you insure you use good visuals? You do this with the design elements of:

LAYOUT

We already have seen one example of bad design above.  But what do we know about what makes for good layout? Simplicity is key to great design. The best designs only have the content that is vital… affording no useless content at all. The layout at left is pleasing and the text is easy to read. When the sections are organized, the visitor’s eye moves around the page easily and knows where they are.

By using most WordPress templates, recommended by a professional, you will have a built in structure. But one must stick to its built in alignment, structure the whitespace properly and highlight important elements through size and positioning.

TYPOGRAPHY

Perhaps everything seems to be in the wrong place, as in the example here. The logo is angled off to the right. It seems the text is all the same size. Differing the size of the type let’s the reader know what the hierarchy of the content. But too many can be a problem too.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Humans are visual creatures. The photos you feature on a site will have a direct effect on the way users feel during and after their browse. Photos that are fuzzy, gloomy, badly lighted, underexposed are usually taken by an amateur photographer as in the example above.

Photos should be clear, well lighted, appealing, and interesting. You can find examples of good photography on a professional photographer’s website such as http://schoenphoto.com.

COLOR

Last but not least is color. Most designers and artists understand color theory. Here is a quick lesson of how the right color combinations can enhance a website. This is a diagram of the color wheel.

You can see the colors of the rainbow organized in a circle where opposite colors on the wheel are “complementary” to each other. The basic rule is to use these combinations of complementary colors. Red with greek, Blue with orange, Violet with yellow. Color can be part of your brand overall “look” as well, such as the red color for Coca-Cola.

Warm colors are used on sites that want to call to mind a feeling of happiness and joy. Cool colors are best used on professional and clean-cut sites to achieve a cool corporate look.

Here is an example of good color use in a website. The subject matter does not lend itself to much color, but the designer wisely added the complementary colors of blue and orange to the rules and buttons to add color and interest.

Keep these design elements in mind when you are updating your site. But if it’s too much of a challenge, call your web design specialist and I’m sure they will be happy to help!

Rossi and Deb searched together for the right theme. She liked the idea of something professional and calming. Blues and greens being a favorite color combination as seen in her logo. We even looked through Big Stock photo agency to find the right images to complete her message. Rossi hired Perugi Design at an hourly rate and got the job done fin less than 10 hours. All along, Rossi learned how to use WordPress and worked along side Deb, while Deb worked behind the scenes to format the theme. Now, Flow has to add more posts and WordPress will pull in new clients off the search engines.

Another site for a local professional photographer in Waltham is about to be published. John Swisher first had to reconcile the two business names he was using: J Ray Photographics and John Swisher Photography. He decided to use John Swisher Photography, then altered his logo to reflect that change. Deb helped John simplify his current logo which now graces the top of the website. John also picked out a theme designed for photographers. Glisseo is an elite theme with a lot of bells and whistles. As we have mentioned in an previous post, Not All Themes are Created Equal, this one was not as straight forward as we like. But, despite the difficulties, see for yourself how this theme beautifully renders John’s photographs. We can’t wait to see what John has to say about his images via captions and posts!

Years ago, I created an html website for my Italian family, which mostly included recipes that we could all share. My grandmother was an excellent cook from the Tuscany region of Italy. I grew up loving her delicious food. I recall her kitchen smelled of marjoram and garlic. So, My cousins and sister sent me the recipes they had, and I coded them for the pages. The job was tedious.

Recently, I revised the site into “LaFamiglia” with WordPress, which can be used and updated by all five grandchildren. We have a page of the older photographs, old Italy and our parents as children. My grandfather was a well known marble sculptor from Italy of which we have many photographs. Then, our generation as youngsters for our children to see.

We recently recorded my Aunt Violet on videotape talking about the old days and placed it on the Memories page. We can also add any stories that we might want to share. Then, the recipes! They are uploaded as Posts. The categories of the posts become an index of the recipe book:  Pasta, Meat, Fish, Salad, Dessert, etc. The database will grow as we add more. You won’t be able to find our site online, though. It is password protected!

This then becomes an online scrapbook, for images, video, storytelling and food. We will hand it down to the next generation. I’m counting on WordPress to be around for a long while…

My husband is not a professional photographer (which I highly recommend if at all possible), but he does have an artistic flair, and knows something about photography. I figured between his eye and my editing we could come up with something appropriate. We chose natural lighting and places where the light would cast some shadow. Out of less than 20 shots, I liked three. All I had to do then was crop and change each to grayscale (black and white), tinker with the contrast and brightness in Adobe Photoshop and size them for the web. One is a perfect author shot, one kind of sassy and one very business like.

Above all, I’m really excited to have a good image for the website and the social network sites. When prospective customers view the About Me page, they will have the latest image of a website designer ready to do business! How is your portrait? If it’s hasn’t been updated lately, I recommend you do so and improve your brand along with it.

Fredia and I lived in the same Newton neighborhood. I designed her old, now abandoned html site quite a few years ago. It was looking very tired. With new colors, vibrant, exciting photographs, Woolf Consulting truly represents the sophistication of its owner.

Gilah’s cool logo.

Speaking of celebrations, check out 2 at the Bar, another new website. My client has a great hobby. She loves to travel with her husband and she loves food. Gilah and Roy have tried many of the restaurants in the Boston area by sitting at the bar and testing the wine and the menu. Her site is loaded with photographs and descriptions. Gilah already had a blogging site, so I was able to export her old blog and bring it into the new design. One challenge was the display of the photograhs, as one post could include a dozen images. But no worries. WordPress is robust and the solution was the use of appropriately sized images at the end of the article and one featured image per post.

Two very different WordPress websites for different purposes from Perugi Design.

What do we do for you at the low end of the price range? We schedule an interview where I present an agreement that outlines what is expected by both parties to get the job done. Usually, the client provides the imagery, including logo, digital photographs and copy.

We decide together what pages you will need and how many. Any pages over 7 will require additional fee of $100 per page. Copy that you provide will be edited by us for search engine optimization and grammar. I can provide you with photographs and graphics including logo for an additional fee.

I provide you with two theme options after taking color, typography and style into consideration. We help you find a domain name or point the domain you have to our preferred host company. After carefully working out the IA (Information architecture) of your site, the text and pages are populated into the theme. Up to 5 Widgets are placed and configured. Up to 5 Plug-ins are installed. Up to 3 Slide shows are made. Up to 3 social network buttons are activated. Site owners are then able to make comments and changes to the layout.

Finally, we provide WP training and support for one month. Clients always feel comfortable calling with any questions. If you are not comfortable maintaining your own site, we charge $80 per hour, minimum one hour.