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There are slider ads, background images, marketing graphics, or any number of other creations on almost all modern websites to avoid blank space. As page development becomes increasingly inexpensive and user-friendly, designing a website that features movement and rotating hero shots is now the norm. The trend is catching fire between large corporate and small business sites alike. We can see the strategy used here to a medium degree on the Ikea homepage: Retrieved from ikea.ca And to an even more considerable degree on the Scotiabank page: Retrieved from scotiabank.com How the large image trend became a trend All the marketing geniuses of the world wouldn’t be using large images on homepages if it wasn’t adequate for some reason. If used correctly, it can be as sleek as it is sexy for the most part. When used as a background picture, the image works two-fold as it doesn’t take the room of precious content, making the page immediately unforgettable. If it’s a flashy product or an attractive person, interest levels have a way of automatically rising. So, what could go wrong? Do you know how you feel ill when you see those commercials with a middle-aged man and wife, their 2.2 kids, and a golden retriever? It’s a similar case if you use stock photography on your website. So, for your large images – or any images for that matter – to be effective, invest in high-quality, personable camera work. This is just one of the many small discoveries that have been made during the investigation of the effectiveness of large photography on the web. Effectively using a small image versus a large image to invite user reaction Papiris wanted to increase the number of submissions on their Contact Us page. They kept the old page while going live with the new to compare and made the following adjustments: Removed bullet points to be replaced with short, sentenced copy Removed the ability to scroll and navigate to other pages (to an extent) Inserted a large background image and solidified the print After these simple transformations, the newly designed page decreased the number of users who immediately left the site by 27% and increased the number of submissions by 36%. The company used this data as a starting point and continued to apply background image tests on their other pages with success. Large images on your website work, but to what extent? Four basic guidelines: The problem with the above case studies is that they already had popular, optimized websites. Their raised conversion rates can’t be rationalized or purely credited to graphics. The large images weren’t added to a failing website or just because they were trendy, so their effectiveness becomes very difficult to […]

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