It’s quite amazing how billions of humans around with so many different nations, cultures, identities and preferences, tend to display highly similar tendencies when it comes to visual perceptions.

Good design is not just what looks good. It also needs to perform, convert, astonish, and fulfill its purpose.

Your sales materials’ design instantly triggers the first impression in the brain And that emotional response will color the rest of your sales interaction.

Humans are primed to recognize emotion in other people to help us navigate our complex social structures. As soon as you see someone smiling, for instance, your amygdala recognizes “happiness” and draws your attention to it. The same effect can be triggered by a firm handshake or a pleasant greeting.

This power is in the hands of any designer. Using the right imagery, you can produce a heightened emotional response. These positive first impressions from design are vital for a great in-person presentation.  The Science of Emotion in Marketing: How Our Brains Decide What to Share and Whom to Trust. With thousands of products on store shelves, eye-catching design is the only on-the-spot tool you have to encourage sales. The Power of Images. A single image delivers a lot of information in a very short time because we perceive an image all at once, whereas reading or hearing often takes significantly longer to process the same information.

Physical Look: What does the product look like? One needs to be able to describe the product in terms of its physical criteria, including color, shape and size, in as much detail as possible. Obviously, this criterion must be altered depending on the product, and may only partly be applicable to services.

e-commerce statistics

93% of consumers consider visual appearance to be the key deciding factor in a purchasing decision.

The product image is very similar to the brand image.

The idea behind the brand image is that the consumer is not purchasing just the product/service but also the image associated with that product/service.

The brand image develops and conveys the product’s character in a unique manner different from its competitor’s image.

What does the product look like? One needs to be able to describe the product in terms of its physical criteria, including color, shape and size, in as much detail as possible. Obviously, this criterion must be altered depending on the product, and may only partly be applicable to services.

The researchers knew image quality had a significant impact. When it comes to implementing your own image quality standard, consider this paraphrase of what Amazon requires to sell on its marketplace.

• The image must be a professional photograph of the product being sold.
• The image must not contain gratuitous or confusing additional objects.
• The image must be in focus, professionally lit, and realistic.
• The full product must be in the frame.
• Backgrounds must be pure white
• The image must not contain additional text, graphics, or inset images.

When it comes to e-commerce, there’s no better way to show off your products than with a photo. 93% of consumers cite images as a major consideration when making a purchasing decision online. And, over half of the customers will leave a website if they don’t like how it looks. Ultimately, your product photos directly impact your conversion rates.

Understanding how important high-quality product photos are for your online store, we’ve put together nine tips for improving your store’s product photography.

Of course, just throwing any image into your content won’t catapult it to the top of the search results. Images need to be carefully selected and high quality and they need to add true value to your content.

Visual content is 40 times more likely to be shared on social media

Build a style guide

A design style guide is important because it ensures that you’re keeping your social media content on brand. Below are some branding tools to consider.

Color palette

Start with color. Think about what colors represent your brand and then pick approximately 2-4 colors that will form your own core color palette.

Typography

Fonts are another way to define your brand. Choose 2-3 complimentary font types.