How bad images can discredit your point

Whether you present in person, illustrate a web-cast, or post a blog visual aids (in these cases - images) should be used cautiously. Similarly to spices that can add poignancy to a dish bad images can damage it if used improperly.

The school of the presentation arts in the net is a blog where many of people I pointed to have commented as "it has great images". The sharp, focused, and concurring with the content images make themselves the facade of the blog. The images (and only then the content) make an unforgettable impression on the readers, booking permanent room in the readers' mind for the content.

Kathy Sierra is another author whose images (drawn by the team most of all, but even accompanying "3d-party" too) is a great example of using visual aids with care and sense. The style and coherence of images with the content enforces the idea and brand the blog as a very unique.

Unfortunately not always when we use images we achieve the desire effect - enforce the point by visual aids. Sometimes the effect is just the very opposite. James McGovern ran recently into a similar problem when some of his readers complained on the images that James uses and missed the point James was trying to bring. It was not about the style or quality of the images but the coherence. The readers were so surprised by the pictures (read - distracted) that they simply didn't see the forest for the trees.

James is a very respectful architect and his book (check his site) is one of the best on the IT architecture, he's also a very vocal presenter and an active bloger and I, personally, highly respect his opinion. But doesn't it amplify the point? The readers' perception simply proved that the images didn't achived their mission. They confused and disctructed instead of enfoced and accentuated.

At the end a piece of advice on image usage:

• Don't put images which relevance demands a long chain of analogies and concatenation. The linkage between the point and the picture must be obvious (look at Guy Kawasaki's presentation as the best example on that);
• Don't use images potentially offending the audience (unless you do it on purpose);
• Crop and resize images so they don't hinder the reading process. In e-published matertials pictures, surrounded by text (as opposite to ones taking half a page), work just fine and if a bigger image is needed open it in a separate window;
• Use images of acceptable quality (both composition and sharpness). Check here on where to take good pictures;
• Check copyrights before publishing;

Technorati tags: presentation, image, blog