Why diverse stock photos matter
“The stakes for me, as a fat person, are that I feel like I don’t belong in the world.”
When someone lands on your website, you have only seconds to show them whether or not they belong. And those precious seconds are what determines whether they will stick around and read the {amazing} content that you’ve worked so hard to put together.
There’s no doubt that your colors and typography go along way towards setting the tone of your site and signaling the type of client/customer you are poised to work with.
A site full of bright colors, like my template, MARC O, will almost always appear more playful, especially when paired with a more playful font, and will attract people who consider themselves more playful or light-hearted and/or people who want to become more so.
A site that is dark and mysterious, like my Solène template, might signal that you are looking for people who are more sophisticated and looking to add things like sensuality, mystery, and luxury to their lives.
But the colors and fonts are only doing part of the work.
If your color palette and font combo make people feel welcome enough to stick around and start to scroll down the page, the next thing that will tell them whether they are part of your ideal client/customer group are the photos you use.
You want to take the time to ensure that your photos welcome a wide variety of person - demographically - while narrowing down who you are solving problems for.
For example, if you are a wedding photographer, you want to only have wedding photos, but be sure to have photos that represent a diverse array of wedding couples.
Or if you are a wellness coach, and you work with career-successful women from around the world, make sure the photos you use show a wide variety of women, culturally.
Diversity extends way beyond race or culture.
Be sure you think about body size and age when looking for photos. Can you think of a website, off the top of your head, that has women above the age of 40 on it? And yet, most of us can work just as easily with women of any age!
Or what about women in different sizes? As someone who identifies as fat, I can tell you that it’s depressing to go to website after website and never see anyone whose body looks like mine - it definitely makes me feel like my body has no place in this world.
PRO TIPS:
Yes, you might have to work a bit harder to find these photos, but if you’re goal is to create change with your work, this is a super simple way to do it.
Use keywords like “plus size,” “curvy,” and “fat” when searching stock photo sites for average to larger women.
You’ll likely have to scroll through A LOT of pictures of plus size women in their underwear or mostly naked before you get to more options, but keep scrolling - it’s worth it!
Don’t just look for plus size women, but think about women who are a variety of sizes.
Use keywords like “older woman,” “older entrepreneur,” or “grandma” when looking for older women to feature.
I’ve personally had more luck on pexels than any other site - for both different sizes and ages.
ADHD TIP: If you can, schedule some time in your week to just scroll photo sites and save some that you like. It’s unlikely that once you start looking, you’ll be able to avoid the rabbit hole of photo options, so doing that when you aren’t looking for a particular photo can be a huge help!
LEARN MORE: The quote at the start of this post is from Aubrey Gordon’s book, What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat. I cannot recommend this book enough!
