You’re using images in your content marketing, right?

(Please say yes, please say yes!)

When you pair compelling images with well-written content, you “power up” your marketing messages.

You engage the whole brain of the person you want to reach, because images and words are processed in different areas of the brain.

How cool is that? Images get your prospects’ brains firing on all cylinders.

In today’s post, we’re going to cover sight lines. Sight lines are one of the essentials to keep in mind when choosing and using images.

Get this wrong, and your image could have the opposite effect to what you want. When your sight lines are wrong, the image you choose could actually weaken your message.

But get it right and your image and message will work together in perfect harmony.

Use an image’s sight lines to reinforce your marketing message

Most images have some kind of sight line that you can use to emphasize your message.

Use image sight lines to direct your viewers eyes toward a message you want to emphasize.

Sometimes they sight lines are super obvious. If there are people in the image, they may be looking in a specific direction.

For example, look at what happens when we take advantage of the natural sight lines in this image to place our message:

How to find sight lines in images

A few tips for identifying the sight lines in an image:

If there’s a person or animal in the image, where are the eyes looking?

When in doubt, follow the gaze of the person or animal in the image.

Where is the person’s body facing?

No gaze to follow? Look to see where the person (or animal, or object) is facing.

Moving from left to right, where are the lines leading?

We read from left to right in our culture. When it doubt, move along the image from left to right and see where it leads your eyes.

Follow the movement that’s already in progress

If something in your image is in motion, follow the direction of the action and position your text accordingly.

Do some images have no sight lines at all?

It’s true — some images don’t have a strong direction that “points” anywhere. They’re almost symmetrical and their primary sight lines are horizontal and vertical.

A strong horizontal or vertical sight line anchors the object in space and gives a sense of stability to the subject of the image.

There you have it, my friend. The next time you’re searching for stock photos, look carefully at sight lines. They can help you grab and hold attention and get your messages read.