Regular readers will probably have spotted that each of these blog entries has a pattern as its featured image. Specifically, these are fractals, each generated by a mathematical formula.
It’s long been known that visual content appeals more to users than plain text. However, licencing pictures can be expensive and appropriate public domain images are hard to find. My content is all about writing, which – by its nature – is often plain text.
Instead, I use a program called Xaos for generating these patterns. As I’m not mathematically-minded, I simply use the random image generator, cycling through them until an interesting one appears.
What’s more, it rarely takes more than a couple of minutes. This helps me a lot, as I commonly write or edit my entries up to the last minute.
The main cover picture is my own work, though. A few years ago, I would attend writing classes in the grounds of Barry Mill, a former watermill in Angus, and I captured this wonderful shot of a light over the doorway. I’m unlikely to replace that with a fractal any time soon.
Gavin Cameron 
Lovely photo although fractals are fascinating too. I recall that guy I dated from Holland used to make them. I don’t think my brain is overly Mathematical, either and was glad to scrape a C at GCSE lol. So is it part of WP norms to add a photo for each post? I don’t have many reads yet but I noticed most seem to.
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I don’t know whether it’s a norm or such, but there’s a section marked ‘Featured image’ when making a post, so it’s easy to add one.
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I agree that visual content appeals more to people than written. The fractals look great.
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