Learn what images do and don’t work!
Website images require careful consideration at any time, but they’re especially important in the education sector. This quick post will give you food for thought when choosing your school, college or university website images, complete with top tips and web design ideas that will help you along the way.
Website image options
Websites in the education sector have access to the same image sources as in other sectors, namely:
- Stock images and premium stock images – these are websites that provide access to images that can be downloaded and used online.
- Bespoke images and professional photography – alternatively, the education establishment may want to use their own images taken with a high-quality camera, or use professional photographers and add those images to their website.
Most websites won’t use just one or the other. They will diversify their selection based on the purpose of the different web pages and who is most likely to use that page, i.e. parents, existing students or prospective students and their parents.
Why are website images important for schools?
Website images are important because they add visual content to website pages, which makes them more interesting and keeps people on the website for longer. The longer people spend on a website the better it is for the website’s (SEO) performance. They are used to break up text and to keep the key messages on the page digestible to the reader. But these aren’t the only uses of website images, especially in the education sector.
Website images are used to resonate with the website visitor. The website visitor should be able to see themselves (not literally!) in your images, so they could see themselves or their children attending your school, college or university. To do this effectively, the website images of a school should include children and parents of different genders, relevant ages and varying ethnicities. Images should include cultural diversification to allow all prospective students and their parents to imagine themselves at the school.
Images should also highlight the different facilities on offer at the school, including special learning environments and sports facilities. This will help parents see that their child will be included and catered for.
What images are best for schools?
Most school websites adopt bespoke professional photos more than stock images. Although stock images are still a good option in some places, images taken by the school with a quality camera or by using a professional photography service are often preferred.
This is because it allows the school to promote their real facilities and enables prospective parents to easily see what’s actually on offer. Of course, you will need to get permission from students and their parents before uploading any images of them online.
Consider using a gallery feature
A gallery feature is a website page that features a series of images of the school or school events. It can be useful to use an image gallery when wanting to showcase several facilities. And it can also be useful to help promote events, such as school sports days and open days for prospective students.
A gallery is also useful to provide visual information to website visitors without crowding other website pages full of images, which could affect the speed of the website.
Professional photography from WEBPRO Education
WEBPRO Education offers professional photography services to promote school, college and university facilities. Our experienced photographers will attend your premises and create stellar images to set your establishment apart. Get in touch to discuss this service in detail.
Recap: Stock images and bespoke images can both be used on school websites. But it’s most important to use images that prospective parents and students can resonate with, which means ensuring images include pupils of different sexes, relevant ages and varying ethnicities. This also promotes an inclusive community. Using a gallery feature can help showcase school facilities without overcrowding individual website pages and is worth considering.
P.S. Sometimes a video is even better than using multiple images. We can also help create videos for your school website.
