Your Brand Needs A Photo Language: Here’s How To Create One

A business’ ability to communicate their brand message in a clear and compelling way is critical to their long-term success. At some point during our first year of college many of us probably sat (or slept) through a class on Rhetoric, the art/study of using language effectively and persuasively. Most of today’s iconic companies pour millions of marketing dollars into copywriting steeped in rhetorical principles. At the core of most written corporate communication lies a hearty dose of market research about the arrangement, style, purpose, and delivery. However, few of these companies apply the same degree of concern to their commercial photography and video content. This creates a significant opportunity for commercial photographers to provide much more than just “pretty pictures” for their corporate clients.

A Good Photo Language Plays Well With Others

Let’s start by agreeing that photography and video are not the “end all, be all” of advertising. They don’t replace the need for written content as the age-old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” would suggest. Rather, visual media should work hand-in-hand with your copy to empower your overall message… yes, this means that copywriters, marketing managers, and photographers must actually collaborate! For the same reasons businesses use charts and graphs to help better communicate information, marketers must develop a visual language for their photography and video that dovetails with their writing, logos, colors, etc. to amplify their brand identity. Everything must work together in harmony!

Visual Consistency Is Key

According to most studies, the recognition and perception of a company is highly influenced by consistency in its visual presentation. So how does a company create a succinct and consistent visual language across their media assets? The fact is, most marketing managers responsible for the creation of the brand identity are not photographers themselves. Consequently, this knowledge gap prevents most businesses from using photography and video as effectively as they use written communications. By extracting the general principles of written rhetoric and applying them to visual media, you’ll begin to develop a much more consistent and meaningful visual language.

6 Lenses of a Photo Language

We need to begin focusing on the relationship between visual media and the overall marketing strategy. You can generally review the communicational impact of a commercial photograph (or video) through 6 basic lenses: uniqueness, arrangement, emphasis, clarity, authenticity, and toning. As you begin thinking about a visual language that’s right for your organization, these guideposts can offer a great roadmap along the way.

Uniqueness

Uniqueness is one of the first and foremost things a consumer will expect from a brand. This is why many companies pay millions of dollars to “buy” a celebrity model or spokesperson. The goliath financial services company MetLife enjoys outstanding uniqueness among their industry by using Snoopy and the other “Peanuts” cartoons in their corporate identity. Because no other financial services company can use Snoopy’s image, this gives MetLife distinction in their industry. In the cycling industry, Ergon International stands out as one of the leading designers of ergonomic components. One of their professional riders, Dave Wiens, is widely known for being one of the few athletes who rivals Lance Armstrong in ability. The athlete is also a key source of uniqueness for the Ergon brand message. It comes as no surprise that Dave is often the subject of the company’s visual imagery.

Arrangement

The manner in which a photograph is arranged will dramatically affect a customer’s impression of your product. By arranging a subject directly in the center of an image or video, you are communicating a certain feeling. By arranging them to the left-third, right, or corner, you will elicit very different feelings. With our Ergon action photography and videos, we’ll generally place the cyclist at the corner of the frame, rather than at a left or right-thirds mark. Although unusual, it creates a sense of motion and abstraction from the norm – 2 of the company’s key values. If however, MetLife used this frame composition with Snoopy, the viewer would feel uncomfortable, anxious, and probably a little dizzy. The arrangement of an image will cause the viewer to feel a certain way about your business. Make sure you are creating the right emotion given your particular brand.

Emphasis

Emphasis is about making distinct elements of an image more prominent by changing their size, shape and/or color. One of the easiest, and most overlooked ways to tie your commercial film and photography with your overall identity is through color consistency. By simply using your corporate colors in the background, foreground, or even just one small element of an image, you’ll create visual harmony. The distance your subject is from the camera can also help emphasize certain pieces in frame. An extreme close-up, for example, can often help the viewer feel a greater emotional connection and trust with the subject in frame. This makes it a logical choice for customer testimonial images. Feel free to play around with distance and emphasis to best communicate your unique message.

Clarity

Clarity is particularly important when creating a visual language for your product photography. In the legendary words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” This is fundamental to creating effective product photography. As the name states, the photo is about the product, not it’s environment. Because a product is already the manifestation of your business, very little needs to be added to tie the product imagery to your corporate identity. A solid white, black, or neutral color is often the best choice for a background to ensure a focus on the product alone.

Authenticity

Few things can disconnect your product from your customer faster than inauthentic media. Before you go and buy your next stock image for $10, ask yourself “is this image or footage an authentic representation of my brand?” Imagery that paints a “make believe” picture will often generate more harm than good in your marketing. Moreover, have you researched where else that image has been used? I was amused to recently see two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies both running the same exact stock image on their homepages. Brilliant. This instantly communicates the message that they cut corners and brush over details; two fatal flaws for any company putting drugs into the human body. Whether your imagery is custom designed or stock, the content is key to an authentic message. Create content that your audience will identify with. Many customers will look for camaraderie with the subjects of your imagery. Authentic subjects, real locations, and relevant messages will pave a path for trust and respect for your brand.

Toning

Toning is probably the easiest way to tie all of your media together. Returning to our previous example, Ergon maintains a very consistent toning palette across their video and photographic content. Each and every media asset undergoes a common postproduction process. This process includes a mixture of desaturating colors, crushing the blacks, revealing the green hues in the mid-tones, and exposing blues in the highlights. While this process can be tedious for an editor, it ensures that the final photo or video is easily and instantly identifiable as an extension of the Ergon brand. A less obvious example is Skype. The Online communications company promotes an image of warmth, friendliness, and approachability. Thus, their media maintains very little styling, focusing on bright, raw, and natural color. A sense of “I could have taken that picture” pervades their visual language. While their lack of postproduction may seem careless, I assure you it’s anything but careless.

Ultimately, Your Customers Drive Your Brand

In the end, your customer is ultimately the owner of your brand, and they should be the drivers of your visual language. If you find your visual language is not aligned with your end user, make changes. No one likes a stiff company unwilling to adapt to their environment. As you address each of these 6 components of your visual language, show your friends, family, or even strangers for feedback on your work. Although it will require some investment of your time and your budget, a compelling photo language will boost the impact of your marketing dollars. Remember, your photographs and videos will often be the first point of contact anyone has with your business.