Brand imagery isn’t just about photography. It’s also illustrations, videos and graphics. Imagery can be ‘make or break’, use it well and it can be an asset to help sell your products. You can create shareable content and build your brand.
Humans are visual creatures and an image has the power to spark emotions, make us connect or make us remember something. At Sixth Story, we love imagery because when it’s strong, it can support your brand message in a hugely impactful way. Here are a few tips from our designers on how to use photography or imagery in branding.
Real imagery can help you to tell your story
Brand imagery can help enhance your online presence and add value across all digital platforms.
Quick tip. If you bombard followers with the wrong kind of stock imagery, it’s hard to achieve the authenticity that your brand or business deserves. So, keep it real.
According to Gizmodo, 300 million photos are uploaded daily to Facebook. So to compete and engage, surely you should be using real photos of your brand? We may be stating the obvious here and we do apologise, but we often see sites or campaigns that rely heavily on stock imagery. It just doesn’t add value, use with caution.
Remember the Apple billboard campaigns with the huge images and the message saying “shot on an iPhone”? Great use of authentic imagery and promoting one of the product features.
Keep your brand values front and centre
The greatest brands on earth know how to use their brand values to their benefit. Values are not just words but need to be portrayed in your visual content too. Think about whether your brand is playful or serious, outdoorsy or urban… you get the idea.
Plan image composition deliberately
Whether it’s having space within an image for text or to move the eye in a particular direction towards the focus, plan composition carefully.
We understand everyone has a budget. But we believe if you’re going to invest in your brand, a professional photo shoot isn’t somewhere you should skimp. Your imagery will build trust with your audience, especially online, so people can see who they’re doing business with or what they are buying. Have you ever bought anything online without seeing a quality picture of it?
A professional photographer will give you quality images, can work to a creative brief so the images are fit for purpose and can effectively be used on whatever you need them for, a website or a brochure etc.
Have a clear purpose
When we surf the internet or scroll through social media, we’re looking for information or to be entertained. We are becoming ‘banner blind’ to adverts, commercials and constant promotions so bear this in mind when focusing on the purpose of your communications. Once you know your purpose, you can strategically choose colours that will enhance and support your message. And don’t forget to stay on brand paying respect to your brand guidelines.
Get your pixels perfect on all your brand imagery
You need to get sizes, dimensions and resolutions right. If you’re investing in images but they’re pixelated, you’re letting your brand down. Web images need to be sized and optimised correctly. Social media sites then have a different set of dimensions for optimal sizing and viewing on different devices.
For more including our social media cheat sheet and a full guide to using photography or imagery to build your brand, download our e-book from our home page.
If you have a project in mind whether it’s photography, illustrations or a video, don’t hesitate to get in touch by email on [email protected] or call 0121 773 6257.