When you search for stock photos for your design projects, you usually want to match the context with the copy. Do you care about the emotions and feelings the photo expresses?

Let’s say you’re designing a sales page for a copywriting course. You may find a perfect photo of someone looking at the screen and typing, but does she/he look tired, overwhelmed, struggling, successful, excited, or happy?

That difference can affect the conversion rate.

You want to visualize the better version of your targeted persona in your design.

Studies show that faces of excited people actually work even better than any other directional cues (arrows or faces of people looking at your call to action). Incorporating emotions and feelings into your design can bring some powerful results.

However, be careful, because stock photos of over-excited people can often look fake. That’s why illustrations are a new trend in design these days. A good looking illustration can be funny and easily evoke the desired emotions while ideally matching your design style.