Image Compression in Web Design: Why It Still Matters in 2024

Why This Matters

You've spent hours perfecting your website, only to watch it crawl along as each image sloooowly loads. If you’ve ever checked your site on a mobile and felt embarrassed by the lag, you’re not alone. When your site isn't fast, you lose visitors, miss sales opportunities, and quietly sink down Google’s rankings.

Despite what the latest agency blog might say, image compression is still crucial. In 2024, websites are heavier than ever, and everyone expects things to load instantly, whether they’re scrolling on the train or checking prices between meetings. Uncompressed images quietly weigh your site down. Performance remains a search ranking factor, and a clumsy, slow experience damages your credibility with visitors.

If your website lags, people don’t blame the computer, their WiFi, or anything else—they blame you. They might not say it, but they do it by quietly closing the tab and moving on. Sites built on platforms like Squarespace have useful automatic tools, but relying on automation has its risks. For designers, photographers, and any business hoping to win clients online, ignoring image compression is like showing up to a job interview in muddy boots.

Common Pitfalls

Let’s be honest: most people uploading images to their site rarely consider size or format. “Squarespace will sort it out,” they think. Or, “JPEG is fine, right?” That’s when things start to go wrong.

• Assuming platforms do it all: Squarespace does resize images to suit different screens, but it doesn’t trim off unneeded sections, nor does it always pick the best file size for your needs.
• Choosing one setting for everything: Compressing images once and reusing them everywhere forces you to pick between poor quality in large hero banners or oversized thumbnails.
• Letting Canva or similar tools export everything: Quick exports from design tools might look fine on your retina display but are often way bigger than needed and lack the fine-grained control required for speedy web delivery.
• Forgetting to balance quality with function: Selling a product? Speed matters—no one wants to wait for your high-res hero shot before clicking “Buy.” Showing off a portfolio? Low-res images give a poor impression of your work.
• Ignoring workflow: No clear process typically leads to a folder full of random uploads, inconsistent quality, and another bout of website embarrassment six months down the road.

If your carefully created blog thumbnail looks fuzzy, or your homepage loads slowly, you've likely hit one of these common mistakes.

Step-by-Step Fix

Step 1: Get Real About Your Audience and Objectives

Start with a brutal self-audit. Is your site about fast transactions, glittering visuals, or convincing someone to book a call?

• E-commerce: Visitors want speed. No one waits around to see a USB adapter appear.
• Portfolio or service showcase: First impressions matter, and image clarity is important. If you compress too much, your site looks cheap; if you under-compress, your site feels slow and unprofessional.

Step 2: Choose (and Crop) Images Intelligently

There’s no shortcut to using the right image for the job. Don’t just upload a 5MB stock image because it looked good in the designer’s preview window. Strategic choices save time and effort.

How:

• Find images that fit the space. Avoid forcing landscape shots into square thumbnails or the other way around.
• Crop before you upload. If you need a 300x300px profile image, crop to those dimensions, even if Squarespace will “resize.” This saves unnecessary data.

Step 3: Optimize Images Before You Hit Upload

Squarespace does a fair job, but there’s value in preparing images carefully before they reach your website. This is where dedicated compressors become useful.

How:

• Export images from your design tool (Canva, Photoshop, Affinity) as close to the actual display size and with high quality set (90%+ if JPEG, PNG for transparency if genuinely needed).
• Use a purpose-built tool like Compressor.io or TinyPNG. Use batch mode for speed if you have a heap of images.
• Download the newly compressed files and store them ready for upload.

Step 4: Make the Most of Squarespace’s Built-in Tools

Now, you’ve prepared your images, but Squarespace has another role: matching images to devices.

How:

• When you upload, Squarespace automatically generates various versions suitable for mobile, tablet, and desktop.
• Use the in-built image editor to crop or adjust focal points if needed. For instance, if you want a profile photo to display as a square, crop in the editor so Squarespace isn’t resizing a portrait unnecessarily.
• Use thumbnail blocks for small images and set custom ratios where possible, reducing real estate and load.

Step 5: Organise and Audit Your Image Assets

Large, duplicate, or forgotten images hidden in the background can significantly hurt a site’s performance. Keeping things organised is the solution.

How:

• Store compressed assets in dedicated folders within Squarespace’s asset library or, if you manage many projects, locally in a “Web-Ready” folder.
• Regularly audit images on key pages. Replace anything over 300KB unless it’s absolutely essential—think hero shots or magazine spreads.
• Use Squarespace’s site performance analytics to spot slow pages or heavy images and fix accordingly.

Step 6: Test, Learn, and Iterate

Perfection is an ongoing effort, especially as websites grow or you add new content.

How:

• Use Google PageSpeed Insights to test your main pages. Look for warnings about image sizes and address anything flagged as unoptimized or unnecessarily large.
• Check your bounce rates and loading times (Squarespace analytics or Google Analytics). If you see a spike after a photo-heavy update, it’s time for another compression round.
• Adjust your process every few months as new devices, visitors, and expectations arise.

What Most People Miss

Reading your audience’s needs is a subtle skill, and websites are no exception. An often-overlooked part of image compression is understanding what your real audience values. Always choosing maximum sharpness and speed isn’t the best solution in every scenario.

Professional portfolios and visual brands benefit from striking, clear images, even if that comes with slightly larger files. Product sellers, however, need images that are as quick and efficient as possible because speed drives sales, and visual flourish can wait.

The best results come from adapting compression levels for each section of your website instead of relying on a single setting or process for everything. Use the approach that best fits the content and purpose of each part of your site.

The Bigger Picture

Compressing images benefits you far beyond just reducing file sizes. The effects are widespread:

• Faster load times keep visitors on your site. This improves your search ranking and supports your business goals.
• Better images impress real humans. High-quality visuals make you appear more credible and professional.
• Efficient workflows save hours in the long run, so you avoid last-minute panic searching through asset folders.
• Your website remains fast as it grows. You won’t need a complete rebuild to address slow loading times later.
• Consistent standards distinguish your site. When competitors cut corners, your site stands out for being more polished and considered.

Building this habit now means less work and fewer uncomfortable conversations when someone emails, “Your site seems a bit slow.”

Wrap-Up

Plenty of flashy tools and widgets promise to fix sluggish websites, but smart image compression still delivers the best improvements with the least effort. Whether you’re refining your portfolio’s hero image or trying to sell online, every second visitors aren’t waiting is another opportunity to engage them.

Start with a thorough audit of your images. Keep your audience in focus. Compress before upload, and use your platform’s built-in features to maintain order. Streamlined workflows now mean smoother sites in the future.

If you have questions, workflow horror stories, or want to share your favorite compression tools, leave a comment or join us in the Skool community for practical advice based on real experience.

If you’d like more detailed systems like this, join Pixelhaze Academy for free at https://www.pixelhaze.academy/membership.