Images on websites: How to stand out from the competition
2025-02-05
Have you ever thought about why images are so important...not just in the digital world, but how important they are in telling a story, helping people, or making a customer fall in love? There's something called the "picture superiority effect," and it's a concept that says people tend to remember pictures better than text. In fact, there's a study that says the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text.
So, how do you make sure the images you’re using aren’t just filling space, but actively helping you rise above the competition? Let’s dive in and see why images matter and how you can make them work in your favor.
1. Images Help You Create a Memorable First Impression
You know the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but let’s be honest—most people do! When users land on a website, that first impression is crucial. Studies have shown that visitors form opinions about a website in under 0.05 seconds. In that tiny fraction of time, images can either draw them in or send them clicking away to your competitor’s site.
Think of your hero image as the “first handshake” between the user and your brand. It should instantly convey the vibe of the website, whether it’s professional, playful, luxurious, or innovative. If your image is generic or doesn’t resonate with your audience, you’re losing out to a competitor who’s using visuals that speak to the user’s needs and desires.
Tip: Choose images that evoke the right emotion or tell a story that aligns with your brand’s values. You can also guide with the latest design trends and make sure they resonate with your target audience. And remember, quality counts—no pixelated or stock-photo-looking images allowed!
*El Pupusodromo's web banner features photos of their dishes, some brand vectors and the text "a tribute to Salvadoran cuisine".
Take a look at the hero image of one of our clients, El Pupusodromo, where we use characteristic elements of the brand, show the products offered by the restaurant and highlight the personality of the brand and its love for Salvadoran cuisine.
2. Images Set the Tone for Your Brand
The more unique the visual is (compared to other visuals in the same industry), the more memorable it will be. In today’s market, every brand is looking for ways to differentiate itself. Images are one of the most powerful tools you have in your UX design arsenal to do just that. They help communicate the brand’s personality in ways words can’t. Think about the Apple website—it’s all sleek, modern, and minimalist. Their use of large, high-quality product images gives a sense of sophistication and innovation.
If you provide web design services, your job is to ensure the images on the site stay true to the brand’s voice. That means selecting images that match the overall style, vibe, and tone your client or company wants to project. The right imagery can make your website feel unique and give it that “wow” factor that your competitors might be missing.
Tip: Create a visual style guide for the website, choosing imagery that aligns with the brand’s color palette, voice, and target demographic. Consistency in your images creates a cohesive and professional feel.
*Mama Lycha's home page features a photo of a smiling young Hispanic woman with the words "100% authentic, 100% Latino".
For Mamá Lycha, a brand that produces and exports Latin American food products, it was very important to reflect that their products are of Latin American origin and that they understand their target audience very well.
3. Images Can Drive Conversions (and Keep Users Engaged)
The more concrete and literal the visual, the more memorable it will be. Want to stand out from the competition? Start thinking beyond just the visuals. Great images don’t just look nice—they also guide the user’s behavior. Think about how a well-placed image can drive someone to click a button, fill out a form, or make a purchase.
For example, if you’re working on an e-commerce site, showing your product in action (e.g., a person wearing the clothes or using the gadget) makes it more relatable and enticing. This creates a connection with the user, which can significantly increase conversion rates.
Tip: Make sure your images are strategically placed to support key conversion points. Think about the UX web design and use visuals that emphasize calls to action (like “Shop Now” or “Learn More”) and guide the user’s eye to the most important sections of the site. A good image can work as a visual cue for users to take action!
4. Images Help Your Content Stand Out
In today’s fast-paced world, users don’t have time to read long blocks of text. A webpage overloaded with content can easily overwhelm a visitor, and that’s where images come in. Visuals help break up content, making it easier for users to skim and digest information quickly. It also adds some personality and appeal to the text-heavy areas.
Plus, in a world of memes and viral images, users have come to expect engaging, interactive, and even humorous visuals. If you’re offering something that your competitors aren’t—such as an infographic, a tutorial video, or a creative image gallery—you’re more likely to stand out and keep users engaged longer.
Tip: Use images to complement your content. Infographics, data visualizations, and dynamic images (like interactive sliders or micro-interactions), that not only enhance your design but make complex information easier to grasp.
*The Digi-Clicks "About Us" page shows the services of Marketing and UX Design, with icons for each one of them.
On our website you can visit the About Us section to see the animations we have created to describe each of our services.
5. Optimize for Performance (and User Retention)
The longer a person looks at an image, the more likely it is to be remembered. You can have the most stunning images, but if they make the website slow to load, you’ve just handed your competition a win. In a world where users expect fast, seamless experiences, slow-loading images are a huge turn-off. A website that takes too long to load is a guaranteed way to lose customers.
Google has even made page load speed a ranking factor for SEO, so faster images will help with both user experience and your search engine visibility. Optimizing your images for performance is key to keeping your website competitive.
Tip: Use responsive images that adjust to different screen sizes, and make sure they’re compressed without losing quality. The quicker the page loads, the better the user experience—and the higher your chances of standing out!
6. Responsive Images for a Mobile-First World
Did you know that over 55% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices? If your images aren’t optimized for mobile, you’re losing out on a huge chunk of your audience. They might see a broken layout or images that load poorly, which could send them straight to your competitors’ more mobile-friendly sites.
Responsive design isn’t just a trend; it’s a must. Your images need to look just as good on a small screen as they do on a desktop.
Tip: Always test your images on different devices and screen sizes. Make sure they resize and scale properly, and that they're still sharp and clear. Using vector images (such as SVGs) for certain elements can also help maintain clarity on all screen sizes, and tools like the Adobe Max updates shown last year will make the process easier for you.
At the end of the day, your job as a UX designer is to create an experience that’s not only functional but memorable—and images are your secret weapon. They can help set the tone, build a connection with the audience, enhance your messaging, and drive conversions. The right image can elevate a website from ordinary to extraordinary.
So next time you’re designing, think about this: How can your images help users connect, engage, and act? If you can nail this, you’ll have one more edge over your competition.
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November: news from Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Amazon and Taylor Swift (Yes, Taylor)
2022-12-02
This was the month of big changes in social media platforms. With the arrival of "Elon Musk's Twitter", a new opportunity opened up to create a similar site but dedicated exclusively to connecting Swiftties, i.e. Taylor Swift fans; and with new features on YouTube and Instagram, brands must adapt to stay relevant.
"Elon Musk's Twitter": a new era
At the beginning of November we were told about the billionaire's purchase of Twitter, and now, at the end of the month, not very favorable changes have been announced for the platform, its users and brands.
Among the most relevant news we have:
- The massive layoffs of employees and resignations of entire teams as they disagreed with Musk's policy to work "high intensity" shifts, which led to a temporary closure of the offices.
- The implementation of "Twitter Blue", to verify official accounts for a price of $8, resulted in huge losses for global brands such as Nintendo, as users decided to clone their accounts and pay to make them official, boycotting them on the platform.
- Omnicom, the big advertising platform, recommended its clients stop the ads of this new “Elon Musk Twitter” because his changes mean a high risk for the brand's reputation. Musk, called himself a "free speech absolutist" and this may affect the social media network's content moderation.
*Actual tweet from Musk, where it is assumed he is referencing the rumored Twitter crash.
Shopping on YouTube "Shorts"
In the YouTube short videos section, it will be possible for users to make purchases of products by 2023. Thus, a 45% commission will be paid to a select group of video creators based in the United States who sell products and in countries such as India, Brazil, Canada, USA and Australia, the feature is already being tested so that users can make purchases.
New Instagram features
Have you always wanted to be able to schedule your posts on Instagram? Now it's possible. Although this is a feature that already exists on several social media platforms and other sites such as Hootsuite, Mosseri, the head of Instagram, has announced that it is now available to do so directly from the platform, allowing Instagram Business Accounts to schedule content up to 75 days in advance.
There is also the arrival of the tool to add music to posts of just 1 photo, something that was only possible in Reels and Stories. While it is not available to all users, the feature will be below the options to tag people and add locations.
*Mosseri, head of Instagram, announced the platform's new tools.
SwiftSpace: the social network for Swifties
It's no secret the power of Taylor Swift. With her new album, she reached the top 10 on the Billboard chart, something that almost no other artist has been able to achieve; and now she is hitting the social media platforms with SwiftSpace, where fans can meet, chat and even arrange a date at the artist's next concert.
This app has already reached the #25 spot in the Social Media category of the App Store and is #13 in Spain.
This shows us that it has responded to a clear need of its followers that was probably discovered thanks to
a UX research.
Amazon Clinic: Amazon's online healthcare consulting services
The eCommerce brand's new bet is to offer medical consultations for minor ailments such as acne, conjunctivitis, migraines and hair loss. This is not Amazon's first approach to the medical category, as it also has Amazon Pharmacy, a company dedicated to the sale of medicines.
Want to learn more about how these developments can affect or improve your brand? Contact us and we will be happy to answer your questions.
Create Personas and Consumer Journeys to improve your business
2022-12-02
All the answers you need to design the perfect product or service are in the Personas and their consumer journey. Read on to find out how you can get inside the minds of your users to deliver a great experience.
Once you understand that by putting yourself in people's shoes you can understand what they are really looking for, you open up a world of opportunities to develop better strategies to reach them and make them feel satisfied with the products you offer them.
The first step: you need to create a Buyer Persona
A buyer persona, or simply Persona, is a profile you create of your ideal user based on the data you have gathered.
What should this Persona have?
1. A name and a face. Although it is a fictitious character created from customer information, giving it a name and a photo allows your team and your potential partners to recognize it more easily.
2. Their needs and goals. Analyze what they want to achieve in the short, long, or medium term and what they need to do it.
3. Their inspiration. We all have motivations to reach a goal. Here you must understand what they are passionate about and the barriers or feelings that prevent them from getting there.
4. Demographic information. This is the most analytical data about your Persona: age, where they live, their purchasing power and even how comfortable they are using digital tools.
5. Their lifestyle. What is a normal day in the life of your consumer like? what is their job? what are their hobbies? are they married, or single, do they have kids? do they like sports or music?
6. Their purchases. Analyze how often they make purchases, from which channel (in stores or online) and if possible, the amount of money they spend on them.
With a defined Buyer Persona, you can now develop a Consumer Journey
You already know what your ideal customer is like, now you need to know each step they take when deciding to buy a product. This is what is represented in the consumer journey.
What are the stages of the consumer journey?
1. Awareness. This stage is when a person "activates" a need, but does not know how to act to satisfy it. Like when you are hungry, but you don't yet know what you want to eat. It is useful for your brand to recognize what your user's need is, when it appears and what stimulates it.
2. Consideration. Your customer already knows what options he has to respond to the need he has because he has seen or heard some suggestions. People are exposed to advertising digitally, in the streets or with people's comments. This is how they learn about the options they have. Your mission is to be present in the channels they consume so that they also consider your brand among the alternatives.
3. Decision. Once the person gathers the necessary information about the options they have and prioritizes the ones that best meet their needs, that is when they decide to take action. If they are a potential customer, they will seek more information about your brand, contact you or attend one of your events.
4. Purchase. After carefully analyzing your brand, the user is convinced that you are the ideal option and decides to make the purchase. This step is vital because it is not only about a sale, but about the whole user experience: ease, speed, customer service, proximity and payment options, among many other factors.
5. Retention. After the purchase, the user defines whether he had a good or bad experience with your product or service.
A satisfied customer is a customer who is likely to buy your products again. That is why you need to follow up with a satisfaction survey to know how he/she interacted with your product and if he/she had any inconvenience after the purchase to react quickly.
Summary: These are the reasons why you should include a Persona and Consumer Journey in your strategy:
- It allows you to reach more potential customers. If you already know where people are looking for you and what needs they have, it will be easy for you to identify actions to reach them.
- Optimize your marketing plan. By knowing what stage the user is in, you can invest in solving their doubts in the channels they are looking for information.
- Improve the user experience. By doing the satisfaction survey or using one of our services people can help you identify what you can improve in the purchase and post-sale process.
December: news about AI, new features of your apps and recent UX-based ideas.
2022-12-02
This year is coming to an end, but tech innovations do not stop. Artificial intelligence was the great protagonist this month and will surely continue to be the talk of 2023, because although it represents great advances for brands, mobile apps and user experience, several people in the industry are protesting because it poses a risk to many positions that currently exist.
Lensa, the mobile app that makes portraits with AI
The app from developer Prisma Lab became a trend among millions of users for its feature to develop portraits based on users' photos for free. It is said to have generated more than 22.2 million downloads and nearly $29 million in charges for its premium features.
So far, it sounds pretty appealing. However, it sparked an outcry from millions of illustrators and game developers who disagree with the "AI-generated images" and claim that you can't call it art by comparing the amount of time and effort they put into each image vs. the immediacy of one generated by the app. Many of them fear that this is the future of the industry and the farewell to their job.
*Examples of portraits made with AI taken from Lensa's official Instagram account, versus the protest image designers have posted on social media and major design platforms.
Amazon works to eliminate barcodes
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon is working on his own with Artificial Intelligence to innovate a more streamlined payment system without barcodes, which could result in faster shipments and happier customers.
This new system analyzes data from product photos, stores product dimensions, features, packaging text and more to create a unique identifier for each product. It is currently being tested and improved at Amazon's logistics centers in Barcelona and Hamburg.
Its ultimate goal is to reduce the handling of products by employees to save time, replacing them with robotic arms that are more accurate and better suited for AI to recognize each package.
Skype now translates video calls in real time
The new technology provided by artificial intelligence goes beyond mobile apps, it can also be used for voice assistants and smart cameras to enhance the user experience. This is what Skype's new TruVoice feature will demonstrate.
TruVoice allows video callers to communicate in the same language in real time and what's even more amazing is that it does it using the same voice of the person who is speaking. How? Thanks to speech recognition and language processing.
It is currently available to translate English, Spanish, French, German and Chinese; for group video calls and for phone calls.
*Conversation via Skype where two men test the new real-time translation feature in Spanish.
Instagram notes and more new features in the mobile app
In the latest update of the social media appeared the "notes", a function similar to Stories lasting only 24 hours, but these are to "share your thoughts" in a format of just text and emojis. They are visible at the top of the direct messages section and only allow a maximum of 60 characters.
To generate more interaction, Instagram is testing a function similar to what the app " BeReal '' does, where users will be asked to take a picture of their front and back camera of their phone. In addition, it will put a "pass it on" sticker so that when uploading a Storie you can nominate one of your friends to take a Storie on the same topic and thus follow a chain.
*The change from Google Data Studio to Looker Studio, reflected in its logo.
It is impossible to stop innovation and more and more brands are betting on artificial intelligence, but do you think this poses a risk to current positions in the advertising and technology industry? Tell us in the comments.