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The definition of imagery:

Imagery can be seen as a visually descriptive or figurative language. It is a collection of images. There are many different types of imagery, and to interpret them all five senses are used.A few different examples of imagery include:

• Visual (Sight) Imagery
• Auditory (Sound) Imagery
• Tactile (Touch) Imagery
• Olfactory (Smell) Imagery
• Gustatory (Taste) Imagery

While making a website there are a few things to consider when deciding if images are the best choice for your specific goals. Some things that should be firmly put in place are:

1. The audience
2. What message is being conveyed
3. Theme
4. Personal or Professional use
5. If using text would display the message clearly enough alone

Knowing Your Audience

The audience of your page is a very important thing to consider when choosing images for your specific site. The viewers are one of the most important reasons as to why anyone would have a website in the first place. Retaining customers and viewers is a way to grow as a brand or element. If you are able to create a visibly pleasing site for the viewers through images they will be more willing to come back to the site along with share the site with their friends and family.

Know What Message You Are Trying to Convey

When choosing images for your site you need to know what kind of message you are trying to send to your viewers. Certain images can ignite different emotions for people and you don't want to send the wrong message to them on accident. You can create a number of different emotional appeals through imagery (happiness, anger, sadness, excitement, etc). Viewers will use their five senses to create a feel for the style of website they are viewing to see if it is what they are looking for sometimes solely through the images which are placed on it.

Theme

Knowing the theme of your webpages is very important when it comes to imagery. If you are all over the map with different styles of images your users could get confused.

Personal or Professional Use?

When you are designing a site for your own personal benefit you are welcome to use any style of creativity you like. This isn't always the case when you are making a professional site, so you should be aware of what is asked of you.

Is Text a Better Option?

In some cases text is just the better option for a specific site. Image overload can be overwhelming for a user, and scare them away.

Susan Weinschenk Discusses the Brain

She states that there are 3 parts of the brain and which reacts to different stimuli:

Old Brain

The old brain is mostly responsible for the body's basic survival. It makes sure our surroundings are safe and controls basic processes such as breathing, digestion, and movement.

MID Brain

The mid brain processes different emotions, social interactions, and IMAGES. This is the part of the brain that causes you to make impulse buys which is a good thing to focus on when you are an e-commerce site and are trying to get people to buy your products.

New Brain

The new brain which is also called the cortex processes current information. It is responsible for reading, thinking thoughts, and speech

*Although the mid brain is most responsible for processing images and is what should be targeted, all parts of the brain should be touched upon when thinking about imagery.

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