Gathering Imagery
In this lesson we are going to:
Source 'supporting images'
Create and organize image folders
Gather favorite images of you and photos you've taken
Exercise 1: Gather & Organize
Before starting on layout, we gather as many images as possible to use during our process. We do this so that we don't have to switch gears constantly, from design mind to searching mode.
I really enjoy this step, because it feels very low pressure and probably because it gives us a real good hit of dopamine! All the pretty things that can be all ours! But seriously... enjoy this digging of beautiful things and the gathering of your own lovely images that you might want to use. You may have to look for something else along the way that works just right, but doing a deep digging of good, 'on brand' images will serve you well and make for a smooth design process. And taking the time to weed out your favorite and best quality photos of you, will also save you time later.
BTW, for those of you who don't like to be seen... unless your business has nothing to do with you as a person, which I doubt is the case in this particular program... I want you to use at least 1-2 pictures of yourself. Showing you is how your people are able to connect with you and what you do. This doesn't mean you need to splash yourself all over the site, like some people do (and I'm not throwing shade on that either), however, a picture on your about page and ideally one on your home page to let a first time web-viewer see who is speaking: should be thought of as a bare minimum requirement.
Just my 2 cents.
What you should know after this step:
How to find and download stock images that support your brand
How to discern stock images that look too much like stock images (this will create a website that doesn't look personal and may not reflect your brand in a big way)
How to organize image folders for easy access
Resource: Unsplash.com
Action Steps:
Spend some time in Unsplash (or any other stock photo site), 'digging deep', and casting a wide net, gather supporting images that could be used for your website.
Double check what you have gathering and oust anything that really reads like a obvious stock image
Create a dedicated folder for your brand images
Inside your images folder, create folders for: stock images, photoshoot images, photos you have taken and might want to use
Pull everything into their respective folders, pulling out only your favorite and best photos of self and pics you have taken
