Image Best Practices

Hosted by Justin Shoup and Vince Ventura

 

Goals: In this podcast, we will talk a little about how to take good photos, what file types to use, and how to size for your website, email, and your individual social media networks.

Taking Photos:

• Take lots of photos! Always take a landscape and a portrait
• Use a consistent background as you’ll want images that are on the same webpage or in the same email to have the same look & feel
• Don’t crop!

Image Orientation:

• When placing images side by side always use the same orientation. For example,  always put landscape style images next to landscape or portrait next to portrait

• Typically, you’ll use landscape-style images most often. Since they take up less space top to bottom they will work better for images near the top of an email or webpage, because this will minimize scrolling.

• Square images on product pages will look best.

File Type:

• If the image has text overlay it needs to be a PNG. Otherwise, the text will appear fuzzy.
• JPG is preferred for photographs with no text overlay.

Size & Dimensions:

• Website: At least 1200 pixels wide. Height does not matter, but keep “above the fold” principle in mind.
• Email: At least 600 pixels wide. Height does not matter, but keep “above the fold” principle in mind.
• Facebook: Size will depend on what type of post it is - link share, square image, landscape image, etc.
• • Link share: At least 476 wide x 249 tall: Recommended: 1200 x 628
  • Portrait-style photo on timeline: At Least:  476 wide x 714 tall (3:2 ratio)
  • Landscape-style photo on timeline: At Least: 476 wide x 316 tall
  • Square photo on timeline: 476 wide x 476 tall

• Twitter: Minimum 440 wide x 220 tall

• Pinterest: For Pinterest it will be 228 pixels wide on a board and expanded to 735 pixels. There is no limit on the height. Aim for a 2:3 ratio or 1:3.5

• Instagram: 1080 x 1080 on timeline/feed. Photo thumbnail will scale down to 161 x 161

Takeaways:

• Typically, the bigger the better, but keep the ratios in mind
• If an image pixelates it’s too small
• If an image has a text overlay and it’s fuzzy it’s probably not a PNG