Wayfinding software solutions help people navigate complex environments such as airports, railway stations, hospitals, shopping malls, large office buildings, and university campuses. At the heart of effective wayfinding solutions lies the visual design — in general, the photos, imagery and graphics that guide visitors from point A to point B. The advanced skills of photo editing play a crucial role in the development of such visuals. Editing helps make such imagery much more intuitive, engaging, and accessible to the audience. In this post, we will explore the fundamental photo editing techniques that can upgrade wayfinding software visuals, which would ensure that users could have seamless UX.
Visual Storytelling: The Backbone of Effective Wayfinding
People are inherently visual creatures: we process more than 80% of information from the outer world with our eyes. Besides, we process images way faster than text. Visual information could convey complex information in a very fast way — just one glance will allow you to grasp the whole idea of the message without the need to read the entire page of text. In the context of wayfinding, clear, transparent and well-designed images help decrease the cognitive overload with information and possible confusion. In general, they act as bridges that help users find the way from their current destination to the desired destination.
Obtaining High-Quality Images
The basis for the effective visuals is the high quality of original images. High-resolution photos could offer more data to process during the editing procedures, which results in more transparent and detailed imagery. For the ultimate quality of your images, we recommend you use special professional equipment, ensure optimal lighting conditions and take photos from multiple angles.
Cropping Techniques for Clarity
With cropping, you can remove obsolete or unnecessary elements from the picture in order to concentrate the viewer’s attention on more critical information. You can also use the Rule of Thirds to place important elements along the grid lines to make the image more balanced and visually attractive to the users. Make sure to pay attention to preserving consistency across images to ensure uniformity within the software interface.
Balancing Brightness and Contrast
Appropriate brightness and contrast configurations are vital in order to ensure easy interpretation for imagery creation. Increased levels of brightness can help reveal details that could be otherwise hidden in the shadows. Adding more contrast can make the distinctions between certain elements and make some of them more conspicuous. With the histogram instrument, it becomes possible to balance the tonal range and ensure that no details would be lost in the dark or extremely bright areas.
Saturation and Tone
With colors playing a significant role in the users’ perception, designers should not overlook the saturation and tone techniques. If you correct the white balance, it would ensure that the colors in your images would appear more natural-looking and realistic. Thanks to the adjustment of saturation and vibrance, you can make the colors more vivid and not oversaturate them in an unnatural way. Maintaining a consistency of the color palette across all images would help ensure a cohesive visual experience.
Methods for Image Sharpness
With sharpening, you can bring out details and textures that are vital for smooth navigation. If you use unsharp masking, you would increase the contrast along the edges within the picture, which would make it even sharper. The special clarity slider is a tool, with which you could enhance mid tone contrasts, adding depth to the imagery. Just do not forget that excessive sharpening could add extra noise which may disorient and distract users from what really matters.
Mastering Layers and Masks
For non-destructive edits, you can separate adjustments into layers and tweak individual elements without affecting the entire image. Utilizing masks would allow you to introduce adjustments in a selective way, targeting specific areas that require additional enhancement. You can also experiment with blending modes for such effects as soft light or overlay, which can upgrade the presentation of textures and depth.
Eliminating Visual Clutter
When the imagery is cluttered, it poses certain dangers — users will be overwhelmed with too much information to digest, and it may result in severe confusion and loss of their way. To prevent this, make sure you clean up your pictures and leave present only the relevant information that makes a difference. For this purpose, cover all the unwanted images like signs, people, or obstructions. Use a healing brush to remove small imperfections or distractions. In some cases, AI-based tools could be of great help and intelligently remove unnecessary objects and fill in the background seamlessly.
Adding Helpful Annotations
Sometimes, you can enhance an image by adding some new elements rather than removing the already present ones. For such purposes, you can use directional arrows to indicate movement or direction, use shapes or shading to draw attention to specific areas, like entrances or exits, or even add concise text labels to provide additional context or instructions for readers.
Techniques in Perspective Adjustment
When you take images at angles, they could distort the perception of space and mislead users. To solve this issue, we recommend you use perspective correction tools in order to guarantee that lines that should be vertical or horizontal appear as such. Other useful methodologies include lens distortion correction and keystone adjustment, which correct the convergence of lines in images taken from a low or high angle.