About my images

I debated back and forth about what kind of images I would use for this site.

Stock images

I decided against stock photos for the following reasons:

• It’s near impossible to consistently find the stock photos that “really captures the essence of this article”. They just often don’t…so I often ask myself: why bother trying?
• The cheesy-ness of many stock photos makes me nauseous
• It’s actually more difficult than you think to consistently use stock photos and avoid creating a visual experience worthy of “amateur hour”. Eventually you’ll use stock photos from different artists and collections and the discipline required to keep looking for a new photo that matches existing inventory is formidable.
• Custom collections are great for corporate use of if you’re making a lot money from your site. But that’s not the case for me, so I didn’t have much appetite for expensive customized collections. And I’m not much of a photographer.

Illustrations

Great illustrations really add to a website. I also feel like here you have to “go big or go home”. Downloading free illustrations from generous artists is certainly one way to go, but sooner or later you start to see the illustrations from the likes of Undraw everywhere you look. And I didn’t want that either. Nonetheless, Katerina Limpitsouni did an amazing job with Undraw and I wish I had the artistic ability to create something original like it for myself, but I don’t.

Alternatively, you can buy a customized illustration set. But I felt like I would reach my limit quickly as I tried to find that one illustration that captured my post. So I’d ultimately be disappointed.

Lastly, you can create your own illustrations (or have someone do it for you) but I had no appetite for that cost and am not artistic myself. For corporate users with budget, I would definitely go this way.

Do it yourself

My son likes to draw. I like to draw with him. We do it together on our iPad. We use Procreate. He has fun and I have fun. I decided to ask for his help in building this site. He makes me so proud and I get to show it off this way.

• It’s yet another thing we can share
• I don’t have to credit random people from the internet
• It’ll probably change slowly over time, making for a creative, interesting and evolving collection
• I don’t need to anguish over which image captures today’s topic of Account-based Marketing tactics, or whatever else I’ve shared. Each image has equally little to do with the subject matter but adds a nice touch to the post and helps with social media post URL unfurling.

Which creative image/photo/illustration ideas have you used for your websites?