7 Tips for Optimizing Photos 

While every organization has their own unique photos, here's some tips to make sure they work for your Localist platform.

Note: The recommendations below are for our Emphasis theme. Want access to Emphasis? Learn more about upgrading here!

1. Size & Format

Accepted Formats: PNG, JPG and GIF

You should aim to source very large, high quality photos and Localist will automatically scale them down. The max supported size is 5000px x 5000px, and using a 2x retina version of your photos will yield the best results when added to the platform.

We recommend that photos be at minimum 940px x 557px to potentially accommodate being included in the Featured Carousel. However, it's not always about size when it comes to the effectiveness of photos. You’ll want to consider the proportions of a photo—a rectangular image will translate better than a square in Localist.

Pro Tip: If your image is too tightly cropped, you can add some additional blank space to achieve a rectangular image that will look good across the platform. You can accomplish this by creating a custom design with a 940px x 557px ratio using Canva. Event Listings:

• Featured: 940px x 557px
• Small Card: 290px x 200px
• Medium Card: 450px x 200px
• Large Card: 478px x 310px

Event, Place, Group/Dept. Pages:

• Main Display: 478px x 310px (full width card)

2. Easily Recognizable Photos

Having recognizable photos is important because they not only reflect your brand’s personality, they make scanning and easily identifying content even easier for users. For example, if a user comes to the platform looking for a football game, it will be easier for them to recognize those events if they have football inspired photos assigned to them.

3. Avoid Text Heavy Images

You should avoid adding text-heavy photos (like flyers), as there are multiple viewpoints your users will be referencing them from. Instead, we recommend adding supplemental info to the event’s description so 1) users are provided with the full details, not just what could fit on a flyer, 2) the info will be accessible to those using assistive technology and 3) the content will be available for indexing by Localist and search engines.

4. Photo Cropping

You can adjust custom cropping via the Admin Add Event form if you click the pencil icon next to the photo > Adjust Cropping. From here, you can set & lock how the photo looks across the board whether it be it in a card, landing page, Featured Carousel, etc.

5. Cover Photos

Cover Photos are a fantastic way to spruce and liven up your homepage or any Channel. Here’s a few things to keep in mind when adding a Cover Photo: 

• The recommended size is 1600px x 228px or larger
• The photo should be subtle like a pattern or landscape.
• You should consider adding an overlay so the page title & Featured Carousel still pop (you can add one in the Components tab of the Colors, Fonts, & CSS interface) if you’re using an image. 

6. Landing Page Photos

For Place photos, we recommend adding an easily recognizable image of the building itself. For Group/Department photos, you should also aim to add an image that users will associate with the org/club/department. That said, if you do not have a high-quality image that makes sense then we recommend using a logo. Just make sure that the logo is not too tightly cropped so it doesn’t get cut off on the various viewpoints. 

Pro Tip: Don’t have a unique photo? Localist has you covered with the Photo Fallback Chain. Localist will display one of five photo types (Group/Department → Event Type → Place → Event/Place Fallback or Calendar icon) if an admin or user doesn’t upload an image with their event. 

7. Photo Library

Lastly, Localist understands that not everyone will have a high quality, on-brand image on hand. To fill these gaps, you can fill your Photo Library with images that are not only in line with your brand, but images that will help your events pop.