world-class hero image + 85% image optimization + sharp
HERO IMAGE:
- Generated 3 concepts with gemini-3-pro-image-preview, picked #1
- Phone showing 'Payment Received' notification at a charity gala dinner
- Warm tungsten bokeh chandeliers against dark bg-gray-950
- Directly visualizes the headline: 'money in the bank'
- Candid documentary angle, not looking at camera, brand compliant
IMAGE OPTIMIZATION (85% total reduction):
- All 21 images resized: landscape max 1200px, portrait max 1000px
- Compressed JPEG quality 80, progressive encoding, EXIF stripped
- Total: 13.6MB -> 2.1MB (saved 11.5MB)
- Individual savings: 81-90% per image
NEXT.JS IMAGE PIPELINE:
- Added sharp (10x faster than squoosh for image processing)
- next.config.mjs: WebP format, proper device/image sizes, 1yr cache TTL
- Dockerfile: libc6-compat + NEXT_SHARP_PATH for Alpine sharp support
- First request: ~3s (processing), cached: <1s
WebP served sizes: hero 52KB, cards 32-40KB (vs original 500-800KB JPEGs)
Omair Saleh
ac19afce4e