Web Strategies #10

Creating Graphics For Your Homepage

First the warning we've given before: Don't use your entire homepage for graphics. I think a lot people are drawn to the idea of using lots of pictures to create a space and image for their company, but the most successful homepages are combination of words and pictures. Graphics and images bring visual interest and energy to the page.

Text gives people what they came for: information about your company and who you can help. Also, if you don't put your marketing message on your homepage you really can't be certain people will see it at all. You don't know if they stick around to see the rest of your site or control where they go in your site. Furthermore, search engines find your site by spidering across the homepage so it's important to have plenty of key words on the homepage.

So what kind of graphics? In my opinion human faces are ideal, and landscapes can also work well, to give depth and character and human warmth to a homepage. I like either art work or photography. Consider putting pictures of people on your homepage. I believe we have a natural preference to be greeted by a human face. It puts us at ease to see a smiling face looking at us. The picture could be of you. It could be your clients or photos your designer purchases from a photo service.

The advantage of picking a picture of yourself or clients is that you are not left with the perplexing questions of what other picture/pictures to pick. For example, our business serves clients of many cultures, races, and ages, probably religions too. I want the graphics on our site to convey that inclusiveness. A concern is that picking a picture of one age group or one race might imply your business is mostly for them. So if you don't pick a picture of yourself then maybe use artwork or photos that show a diversity of people. Check out the homepage at Mocha's Museum of Children's Art: www.mocha.org. (We didn't make this site.)

I often think that most products are too static to make an exciting graphic for a homepage. However, I'm sure there are lots of exceptions. Food, art, clothes, shoes, furniture and design products are full of personality and can carry a page. Look at this sculpture made by a child on the events page at Mocha. It's a handmade object endowed with energy and personality. http://www.mocha.org/events/index.html

Finally, I see many attractive homepages that use landscape. It can be a distinctive place in your locale like the Golden Gate Bridge or a more private one like a garden path. Again the landscape adds depth, color and interest to what would otherwise be a flat screen. Here's a homepage we created for DayStarWindow Tinting that uses two different places to create a dramatic entrance and ties in appropriately with their business. www.daystarwt.com

About your logo
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Creating a logo is harder than it looks from my perspective. I'm trained as a fine artist. I consider myself a fine artist. (I paint and draw in my garage studio.) Recently I made a couple of logos and Tod polished them up using the graphics techniques he knows. I learned I could make a logo but it took many hours to get there.

I enjoyed it, but I recommend you hire a graphic designer to get an awesome logo that will take you through many successful years in business. From now on I'm referring all clients who don't have a logo to a graphic designer. I know several fantastic graphic designers I'd be happy to recommend.