The Power of Imagery

We humans are visual by nature. Images draw us into articles and designs and create an emotional response. On November 14, the French newspaper Libération intentionally published an issue without images.

Done as a statement about the importance of photojournalism, each article still featured layout boxes with captions—but where photos of the events and people being written about would be, there was vacant white space. The difference was striking, and creepy, with the point well made in a time when photojournalists are being laid off in cost-cutting moves from Paris to Chicago (where the Sun-Times laid off its entire photo staff in favor of training reporters to take pictures with their iPhones).

What the November 14 Libération edition really proves—in dramatic fashion—is the power and importance of professional, relevant imagery.

In marketing, imagery is just as, or perhaps even more important. People take in and interpret visual information faster than written words, and people credit or discredit a company based upon the immediate first impression a website design makes on them. Here at Oneupweb, we design websites that relate to target audiences and instantly establish the credibility of a company. The correct images, iconography and other graphics are the first, best means of accomplishing the desired result. Visual elements not only communicate, they invite, attract, and relate.