Big Photos = Big Engagement
Friday, August 1st, 2008 | No Comments »Sam Lawrence said it best via twitter: “This blows my mind.”
The Boston Globe’s Boston.com has a three-month old blog column called “The Big Picture” and yes, it does blow your mind.
It’s a collection of amazing photography presented in a large format. Very little commentary and captioning. Not to get nerdy, but all the photos are all 990 pixels wide and around 600 pixels tall. Much larger than your average web site photos.
Artistry comes both from the quality and presentation of your work, and as I think about engaging people, I can’t help but think that most web content creators are missing the boat by limiting viewership of their most important digital assets.
Example 1: Photos
Looking at two examples from my own university, the Pepperdine school of law posted tiny photos from an alumni event. No context; just hundreds lined up in a row. Conversely, Pepperdine’s president just went on a highly-publicized tour of Route 66, and, along the way, his team posted photos to flickr, where people can view full-sized images, as well as download and comment.Example 2: Video
I wrote a column for TubeFilter about TNT’s new interstitial series, Lucky Chance, and not only is the series lame, but they only allow you to embed a super-small window (260 px wide) in which to post the video on your site. Not an engaging viewing experience, even if you’re watching your favorite show.
Apply this to your own site. Your own blog. Your own experience. Are you trying to “wow” clients? Trying to make web surfers “feel” your brand? Big presentations and crisp photography can do that.
