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How To Choose Photos For Your Brand: A Guide
We discuss the role of imagery for your brand’s visual identity.
In our experience as a graphic design and branding agency, photos are often overlooked by business owners in terms of their importance for the brand’s visual identity.
While the logo and color palette usually receive the most attention and are seen as important, the imagery often remains neglected. This usually takes shape in hasty decisions on what photos to include in branded materials.
For example, as long as there are people smiling in the photos, they are green-lit for use in brochures, social media posts, or the product packaging.
But we believe that this approach leads to missed branding opportunities and can potentially damage the brand.
Perhaps you’ve had the experience of browsing a brochure from a local business which at first glance appears well-designed, but you come across a familiar stock photo.
For example, this one:
The photo is immersion breaking. You have seen those same smiling people in many different ads. You know very well they’re not customers of the business. They don’t look like the people who shop there. They don’t look like you.
Overall, the photo looks generic. It could have been used by any other business. It doesn’t look like effort was put in to choose it or create it, either. In short, it looks cheap.
Without being consciously aware of it, you don’t feel that the brochure is made for you or speaks to you, even though it was given to you by a sales rep. That is a missed opportunity for the business.
As our example illustrates, photos are an important part of your brand’s visual identity. If used poorly, they can damage your brand.
If used appropriately, they can:
- Build trust and credibility with your audience
- Communicate your brand personality and values
- Help differentiate you from your competitors
- Give you a new medium for effective storytelling
- Increase engagement on your website or social media posts
This, however, is easier said than done.
In the following section, we will provide guidelines on how to choose appropriate images for your branded materials.
Before you can choose photos for your brand, you need to have a clear understanding of your brand identity.
First, you need to determine what personality you want your brand to have. Do you want it to be serious or quirky, formal or informal, traditional or innovative, etc.
It can be helpful to think about it in pairs of opposites and to try to describe your brand in as much detail as possible. We discussed this at length in a previous article about a brand’s voice and tone.
In it, we said that there should be clear rules about the brand’s verbal communication. For example, if your brand is particularly informal, the language it uses must also be informal.
The same applies to your brand’s visual style, which will determine which photos are appropriate to use and which aren’t.
For example, this photo of a small business owner:
What brand would it be appropriate for? Perhaps an informal, modern, organic, quirky, down-to-earth one.
Related to the point of understanding your brand’s personality is understanding your audience. Knowing what your customers want is crucial for success. You should get to know them as much as possible.
Who are they? What are their interests, pain points, and desires? What are their likes and dislikes?
On a fundamental level, try to put yourself in their shoes. How would you approach your business if you were them? What would you like to see? Apply common sense, gather as much evidence as possible and do not allow yourself to be misled by preconceptions and presumptions.
Once you have determined which photos support your brand’s image and align with your audience’s expectations, you need to consider where you will use them. This is important because different media and different types of branded materials have their own specific requirements.
For example, you might have found the perfect photo to deliver your brand’s message. You want to use it as a cover photo on a social media account, but it’s in the wrong format. The photo was taken in a portrait format (vertical) rather than landscape (horizontal) and cropping it would ruin its appeal.
Although this applies to all images you use in your branded materials, you should take special care that the ones you use on your website are of high quality.
We believe that the website is one of the most important branded assets of your business. It is your digital storefront and communication platform.
There are a few types of photos you will might need to choose for your website and we will tackle each of them in turn.
The first section of a web page is called the hero section. Its purpose is to immediately grab your web visitors’ attention and tell them what the page is about. This makes it your page’s most important section. It typically includes the page’s core message expressed in a headline, the main Call to Action (CTA), and a hero image.
Hero images are usually large and prominent. With them, you want to grab the audience’s attention, set the tone for your brand, and support your key messaging. These are the most important photos to get right on your site, as they have the largest influence on your audience’s decision to continue engaging with your brand.
For example, if you’re an influencer or content creator, you might want to greet your visitors with a large professional photo of yourself to build trust.
If you display or sell physical products online, it’s crucial that you invest in high-quality product images. These photos should ideally be well-lit and should show your products from multiple angles. We recommend hiring a professional photographer for the task.
If possible, it’s good practice to have these images unified in terms of background and size, or at least the main images of each product.
Showcasing your team with professional photos can build trust in potential customers, especially if you’re a service-based business. As with other types of photos, make sure that team photos look professional, friendly, and reflect the personality of your brand. There are many creative ways to make these pictures more dynamic, fun, and quirky.
If you have a beautiful shop, office, restaurant, café, or other significant location, showing it on your website is a great way to build trust. If clients will interact with that space, it will show them what to expect. If they won’t have access to it, you can show them what happens behind the scenes.
For example, taking organic pictures of your kitchen while your team smilingly prepares food can be great for building your restaurant brand.
Once again, we advise hiring a professional photographer to do this. Using poor location photos can make customers unwilling to visit them and lose trust in your business.
Social media is another area that requires a dedicated visual strategy and deliberate choice of imagery. This is especially the case with platforms like Instagram where storytelling and aesthetics are key.
They allow brands with distinct visual styles to flourish and punish businesses with bland, inconsistent and repetitive content.
On social media, you can use the following types of images to great effect:
If you’re selling a physical product or performing a service, show them being used by real people in a real setting. Create scenes that feature your products and make them look effortless, organic, and as real as possible. Make them relatable to your audience. If you have a clothing brand, show your clothes being worn by models that closely reflect your audience.
To keep your followers engaged, always ask whether a photo brings value to them and where the value is.
For example, by viewing photos of your outdoors gear being used by people who look adventurous, it will allow customers to associate themselves with the lifestyle.
Like the behind-the-scenes location photos for your website, showing details from your working space or process will create a feeling of closeness to your brand. Customers will see the human side to what you do, which will help them emotionally connect to you.
Finally, a great way to promote your brand on social media is to encourage your customers to share their own photos of your products. They can either mention you on their posts and stories, or you can repost them with their permission.
This is a powerful way to build trust with your audience. It also has the benefit that it costs very little compared to hiring a professional photographer. In fact, not being produced professionally is their core strength. Because of it, they are perceived as more authentic and human.
As we illustrated earlier in an example, today’s consumers can tell when a photo is inauthentic, fake, or a basic stock image. They can easily spot photos that are staged and have a keen eye for the details. That’s why it’s now more important than ever to use photos that reflect your business as closely as possible.
If you can, use photos from your actual business – high quality pictures of your team, location, or customers.
High-quality stock images are also a good, cost-efficient alternative, but make sure to choose ones that reflect your business and audience as closely as possible.
In most cases, avoid the most popular stock images. People have seen them already. Most stock image websites allow you to sort by popularity. Also, in most cases, avoid the most basic stock images that look old-fashioned and stiff.
There are a number of websites where you can find high-quality, authentic and free stock images like Unsplash, Pexels, and Freepik. Many of these websites offer premium images and subscriptions. They are worth considering. Another great, paid resource is Adobe Stock.
Whether you produce your own photos or opt for stock images, it is crucial that all of your images should feel like they belong to the same brand. Consistency is key to maintain the cohesive image of your brand, whether your customer interacts with it on your website, social media, or branded materials.
This doesn’t mean that all your photos need to look exactly the same, but they should have a consistent visual style. No photo should feel out of place.
To achieve this, pay attention to:
- The Color Palette: Stick to a cohesive color scheme that reflects your brand’s colors. For instance, if your brand’s colors are muted and pastel, avoid using overly bright or neon images.
- The Lighting: Consistent lighting across your images can help create a unified look. Soft, natural light tends to work well for most brands, but make sure it fits with your brand’s tone.
- The Composition: The way a photo is composed (its layout, framing, and balance) should align with your brand's style. Clean, minimalist brands may prefer simple, uncluttered compositions, while more vibrant brands might use busier, more dynamic images.
Choosing appropriate photos is only part of the equation. There are also a few technical considerations to make. Especially on your website, you need to make sure that your photos are compressed and optimized.
That’s because large and unoptimized images can take too long to load, which can cause your web visitors to leave before they even see them. Slow-loading images can significantly disturb the layout and flow of your website.
Perhaps you’ve had the experience of scrolling through a web page with intricate layouts and animations but something doesn’t feel right. The layout seems wrong. Suddenly, a photo loads, pushing text and icons aside, disturbing the page composition.
To avoid the problem, make sure that your images are optimized for the web. There are free tools like TinyPNG to compress and convert them into modern light formats like WEBP and AVIF.
After you have made all of the decisions we outlined above, the best practice is to write them down as rules in your brand book.
The brand book, guide, or manual, is a key asset of your business. It describes in detail how your brand assets are to be used. For example, its logo, typography, and fonts.
It should also include a section about imagery and photos. It should cover rules and provide specific examples about what types of photos to use, where, when, and what types of photos to avoid.
For example, will AI-generated photos be allowed? If not, this should be stated in the brand book.
Will illustrations in photos be allowed? If not, again, the brand book should prohibit them.
For example, this photo:
Having a clear brand book will help protect your brand. You should distribute it to employees and external partners who produce branded content and strictly enforce its rules to avoid brand damage.
Because of its importance, we strongly suggest working with an experienced graphic designer or agency to create the brand book with you.
As we have shown, choosing the right imagery is crucial to create and maintain a strong and cohesive brand identity.
As a business owner it is easy to underestimate the emotional impact of photos on your customers. This can lead to missed opportunities to build trust with them.
To choose the right photos for your brand, consider first the personality of your brand and the preferences of your audience.
Use professional quality images that look relatable and organic. For team, location, and product photos, consider hiring a professional photographer. If you use stock images, avoid generic and popular ones. Make sure they align as close as possible with your brand.
Consider where the images will be used. For example, a website has different requirements than a social media account. Optimize, compress, and convert your photos into the appropriate file formats, especially on your website.
Write down and follow all of the rules for imagery in your brand book. We suggest hiring an experienced graphic designer or agency to assist with this.
In summary, make deliberate choices about the photos you use. Always consider your brand and your customers. Only use high-quality relatable images.
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Get in touch today!In a previous article, we provided a guide on crafting a memorable brand identity. In it, we said that a brand’s visual identity consists of multiple elements: its logo, typography, color palette, imagery, etc.
We wrote that in order to be successful, all of these elements need to be designed along a unifying vision. They must complement and support each other.
In this article, we will discuss the role of imagery for your brand’s visual identity. We will provide a guide on how to choose photos for your branded materials and website. We will also cover potential pitfalls to avoid.
