Picking Good Header Images

Why does it matter? Header images should be thought of as a visual complement to the content of your article. Additionally, they help make the layout of your website more visually appealing. You can read more about why header images are important here.

Here are some tips for selecting good images:

1. Use a JPG image with a width of at least 2500px

Scholastica will use your article image across an array of different devices and at different sizes, so it's important to start with a large enough image. When you upload a 2500px jpg, we optimize it across different sizes and devices.

2. If selecting images via the Scholastica Image Search, use queries that relate to ideas in the article.

This photo is for an article called "The Vibrancy of Community: An Ethnography of Printer’s Row." Since Printer's Row is a neighborhood in Chicago, we used a query of "neighborhood" to find the image below.

(photo by Omer Rana)

3. If you're having trouble finding an image related to the topic, don't be afraid to go abstract.

Images don't necessarily need to have a 1-to-1 relationship with the article content. Something abstract often does a great job!

Here's an example using the Scholastica Image Search with the query "patterns".

4. Don't use your journal's logo as the article image.

Using the same image for all your article doesn't make your website look very nice. The resolution of the file image is probably really low, too.

(This looks pretty bad, right?)

5. Avoid text-heavy images

Your article title, author information, and article lede will all be overlaid on the header image, so if you choose a header image with text in it, that may make the overlaid text hard to read — especially for readers with visual impairments.

In summary, picking header images doesn't have to be difficult and pays off for your readers and the visual appeal of your journal website!