VIsuals - Don't overdo the background! Part 2

While it's true that a visual can speak a thousand words, be careful what words they say... especially if they say them over and over again.

The second set of fouls comes from a repeated photograph in the background. While this is a nice touch to put on personal family websites, it is a disaster for a company.

Although there is no written rule saying so, having a background photo that tiles all over the background tells visitors that a company values the object of the photo more than anything else on the page, but worse, it distracts visitors' attention.

Two of the most powerful photo elements are children and cute animals. So why would a company post that photo as their background? I like to think that it's because they don't know better or haven't thought it through to completion.

Now a knee-jerk response to that example is "well that's what my company does - we provide a service that brings kids and cute animals together." If that's the case, then it could be a good photo for you to use, but it is not a good choice for a background image that repeats itself all over the page.

First, it distracts attention from the marketing message. When a company is selling a product, effective advertising and design put eyeballs on the message, not the background. Second, it looks amateur and diminishes the professional image of a company.