The main most important design aspect of any e-commerce website would be product photography. Being unable to touch, smell, taste and hold, alternatively handle the product they find interesting, the closest interaction the client could get are the images. Basically, the softer, tastier, flashier and more attractive your products look to shoppers, the more confident they'll feel about purchasing from you and the better your conversion rate will be.

Knowing how deceivingly great product photos can look , keep in mind that your images should complement your website's overall aesthetic and your company's image. Let's start with a few great examples of how online retailers have incorporated best quality product photos onto their websites and focus on images of actual items, rather than models, events or landscapes.

Great Examples of Flashy Product Photography

1. Mutant Shop

Very funky and uniquely crafted toys. Its clean product details and catchy colors invites the users to click on further and view their products.

2. Apple

Known and loved by gadget enthusiasts, Apple showcases their products that they can’t resist. With an additional limited number of images and a simple twistable 360-degree viewing mode, designers behind this website visually sum up Apple's chant of fun and simplicity.

3. Better Closet

Provided with navigational options, users can search for their desired product easily. And with vivid detail of their products, they attract costumers even more.

4. Designbyhumans.com

One of the many known T-shirt companies. This one has a super-clean website and keeps the product well in focus, despite the human models (may sometimes distract from the product).

5. Soup Studios

This site sells very unique and one of a kind pottery, and ornaments. Their straightforward value proposition is strong and the content and labels chosen have shown customers why they should buy from them.

6. Bang & Olufsen

At first glimpse, it seems a bit less appealing, audio-video manufacturer Bang & Olufsen opts for a harder, more architectural aesthetic than some of the other websites we've looked at. While there is plenty of black, gray and white throughout, this website is far from cold and sterile, thanks to the side-sweeping product photos, which are bright but do not compromise the futuristic feel of the design. The pages of Bang & Olufsen's collection have another nice touch: product thumbnails glow when you hover over them.

7. InCase

InCase offers not only neat and catchy product details, it also has the images of the product in different views. Thorough product details and reviews allows users to decide on their purchase more meticulously too.

8. Leica

From one of the world's biggest names in photography and imaging technology, Leica has some high-quality images, especially of its camera equipment. You won't find a ton of photos here, but in keeping with the brand's no-frills, no-nonsense approach, the pictures you do see are high-res and sharp, a perfect example of how to do more with less.

9. Dog Funk

Touching up with a soft grunge style, this website sells snowboarding clothing and gear. Showcasing products with high quality images that would allure snow sport athletes and enthusiasts.

10. Chocomize

The ultimate playground for chocolate lovers. Provided with a wide variety to choose from, sweet-tooths can customize their own chocolate of their favored chocolate, fruits, nuts, herbs & spices, candy, decoration and other ingredients to satisfy those taste buds.

11.  Accessories Online

This site is a good example of clear Call to Action at above the fold of the site. Which caters to a wide selection of categories for different user needs.

12. Ties 'n' Cuffs

This is another e-commerce store with a huge selection of cufflinks, ties and other accessories. Just like CuffLinks.com, it offers a handful of photos for each product. But Ties 'n' Cuffs gives a super-clear picture of product details, letting customers zoom in to the image, that one might miss in a wide shot and showing how the crystals reflect the light. Browse around this website to see how they've implemented their zoom function for many different products.

13. Toys R us

This site displays high quality photos of their products with vivid bright colors and detail. The site attracts customers from toddlers to moms and dads.

14. Abel & Cole

This homepage states very clearly why people should shop with them together with 4 reasons. This is their up-front value proposition and the core value that is well blended into the design and the organization.

15. CuffLinks.com

This site clearly invests on good photography on it’s cufflink products. It offers customers a good view of its cufflinks from all angles. It also shows the packaging or box that the cufflinks will ship in, giving us a well-rounded impression. Fortunately for this company, the size and inflexibility of cuff links make them a relatively easy product to photograph. Take a look at their many other products and the different angles the shots have been taken from.

16. Dune

Using a large high-quality photo on the background gets the customers’ attention. Displaying their designs in such a vivid manner, this site delivers their message upfront.

17. Archiduchesse

What’s great about this site, is that the user is just 2 clicks away from the ‘Check-Out’ button. This increases the functionality of the site, and easy purchase could also mean higher sales. Very smart and creative at the same time.

18. Victorinox

This brand is known for precision equipment. Victorinox has a remarkable range of visual content on its website, especially in the product area. The website has a high-profile on its great examples of selective focusing and dramatic lighting, which really make the products outstanding.

19. Chrome Bags Store

This site displays realistic photographs of people on the move, while using their product. Using awesome photography skills and carefully choosing the best shots to display.

20. Pong Cheese Shop

This site offers a convenient gift-giving service. You can put in a personal message in the checkout and they will hand write it onto a card for you. They display high-quality and clear images of their dairy products.

21. Harry Winston

This high-end jewelry line website, uses very vivid and close-up photographs of their pieces. Showing every great detail of their celebrity-chased collection of jewelry.

22. One Horse Shy

This site uses very clear shots of their tees and the prints on them. Giving customers an emphasis on what design would suit their interest.

23. Munich My Way

A clean and simple site, that gives focus on their products. Displaying very clear and consistent images, helps customers see the details and size of the footwear.

24. Made.com

Made.com does an excellent job of showcasing its products from multiple angles and perspectives without disorganizing the website or making the images feel redundant. The selective use of color throughout the website directs attention to the products themselves, while giving the overall design a sleek minimalist feel.

25.Fugitive Toys

This site showcases their products with vivid and colorful images that catches the customers attention. They also give the customers a clear view of their toys in various angles and gives full attention to details.

26. Itself

This site clearly states what their products are all about. This minimalist design gives a more focus on the product images which is good for the customers viewing.

27. Big Brown Box

The site showcases their appliances using alluring images that would invite shoppers to view more. They display high-quality and detailed photos of their products.

28. Trolley Cards

This site does an amazing job on showcasing their cards. Using great photography in various styles that allure the shoppers to buy their products.

29. Rapha

This site clearly invests on high-quality photography to sell their products online. They use photos that has subjects who actually are using the products rather than just using plain boring product photographs.

30. Pure and Little

This site showcases their products by showing cute, dramatic shots and good lighting. They clearly know how to pick effective photographs that will captivate the shoppers’ attention and click for more.

31. Tillymoss

The showcase of various designs and clear shots of details makes it easy for the customers to pick their favored choice. Using great lighting and best angle shots, the products are very eye-catching.

Conclusion

Give your customers the best quality images to help them decide and give them a clear view of  the products you sell. It is important as well to provide user-friendly navigation and guidelines to assist the shoppers work their way to buying your goods.

Freelancers, to be successful, should always be updated about what is happening in the world. This leads to hours of reading news and blogs with the occasional checking of e-mail and social networking websites.

Often, many freelancers tend to work for longer hours, habitually this may lead to mental fatigue. Mental fatigue means living your days at work like a zombie. You do not function, thinking becomes extremely hard, all you want to do is lie down and rest all day. Aside from the inside effects, physical performance is also affected greatly.

Remember the saying "what the mind conceives, the body achieves" ? As always let us first find out what causes information overload.

Causes of Information Overload

Image by: Carlos Alberto Brandao

In our trade as freelancers, not only writers should be updated about the current trends but developers and designers as well. We either tend to do too much or know too much. While doing too much leads to exhaustion, trying to know too much will eventually lead to confusion. Think of your brain as your computer, the more information you save in it the more your computer’s processing speed slows. Here’s the catch, although our brain’s power is beyond that of a computer it is still prone to confusion.

Then there are people who are obsessed with productivity, people who divide their 24 hours into 3 parts: 18 hours for work, 4 hours for sleep, and 2 hours trying to fall asleep.

So far we have:

• Reading too much before working
• Extended hours of work
• Obsessed with productivity

Next stop is procrastination. What? Procrastination leads to information overload?! Yes, somehow. The people I know who are adept at procrastinating can attest to this. Great information is at the tip of your fingers; there is Twitter, Facebook, and blog feeds where temptation always lurk. I am guilty of this, that whenever I see updates of my favorite blogs I stop working and start reading, thinking that by doing so I’m expanding my knowledge that I may use in the future. All of a sudden the rooster starts crowing and I’ve finished nothing!

The idea of multitasking divides people. There are those who believe that multitasking is one of the greatest skills everybody should have, others think would rather remained focus one task at a time. I guess we can all agree that multitasking somehow limits efficiency. Trying to juggle 5 tasks does not actually mean paying attention to them at the same time, your attention switches rapidly from one context to another which may lead to information overload.

Recap:

• Multitasking –  it’s like short-circuiting the brain (for beginners, at least)
• Procrastination – the idea of break time, used for reading
• Availability of great articles like this *laughs*
• Reading too much before working
• Extended hours of work
• Obsessed with productivity

Implications of Information Overload

Image by: Carl Dwyer

One of the most dangerous effect of information overload is difficulty in making a decision. Can’t decide what to do first, can’t decide what to write, can’t decide because there are a lot of information inside your head that are trying to get out. And they need your attention to stay calm, but paying attention to all of the buzzing leads to poor focus. Not good, not good.

Job descriptions nowadays mostly requires applicants to be fine with multitasking but our short-term memory cannot juggle 5 or more things at the same time. As mentioned, multitasking only shifts people’s attention from one task to another. It is a fact that the brain can’t focus entirely at the task at hand because of the rapid shifting. Clearly, our work requires focus and skillful decision making.

Slower thought process

Taking Control of Information Overload

Image by: Julia Freeman-Woolpert

The human mind is a great thing, it can simulate things that are to happen and things that will never happen. It thrives in the information you give, carefully saving them there in the vast expanse of the universe inside your head. Think of it this way, suppose your desk is filled with notes and trinkets, tons of papers that you believe would help you do your job and other things like books and your collection of Starbucks tumbler. Put simply, you start to forget the color of your desk because of the clutter. Will you spend minutes looking for the piece of paper which contain the information you really need if you’ve properly sorted out the things you don’t? Now your brain must be too confused because of the poor explanation I just made so let’s get straight to the point of this article: Getting Out of Information Overload.

1. Moderation in Everything You Do

Image by: cema

Too much of everything will kill you. Set your alarm clock and when it rings, stop working. It is good to know lots of stuffs but not those which might harm your work (irrelevant stuffs). Too much work, too much procrastination, too much reading, that’s just too much! *laughs*

Have you ever had one of those nights when you are already on your bed waiting to fall asleep but can’t? Something inside your head whispers of things that you should be doing instead of lying in bed, of things that you’ve just read, nightmare! So I say, do things in moderation.

2. Set Aside Time for Silence

Image by: Gabrliela Fabbri

Set aside time for silence and for other things that you wish to do. Break time every 25 minutes of work (see Pomodoro Technique) and do the things that will help you relax, no information hoarding and get far from your computer!

Meditation is another way of getting things inside your mind in order. Just woke up? Don’t brush your teeth just yet, lie there and focus your gaze at your ceiling and just relax for several minutes until you feel like standing (don’t fall asleep though). I find this technique very effective, makes me feel like I’m treating myself just by doing that.

3. Clear Priorities

Image by: Nick Cowie

By knowing your priorities at the time being, you are automatically (hopefully) safe from going astray. Work priority does not include using Facebook and Youtube for hours (unless you’re in the marketing business).

4. Know What You Need to Know and Don’t Go Astray (however tempting)

Image by: Thomas Pate

If you must read blogs or check things for your work (e-mail, inspirational things) be sure not to go astray. I find it difficult to stop reading things that catches my attention, I feel like I’m obliged to. But I’m doing everything I can to not go astray from the important things. Hard? Yes, you need to monitor yourself and say no to the things that you like.

Your Turn: How do you handle information overload?