Get a picture of the brand – the imagery style as an essential part of the brand design system

The first impression counts

Photographs or illustrations are ideally suited to transmit emotional messages: Most people are visual beings – images are processed cognitively faster and remembered better than writing, which the brain first has to decipher. When conveying corporate or brand values, the visual language is therefore of major importance. A consistent picture style contributes significantly to the perception of the brand; this includes aspects such as the Kadrage, perspective, color climate, styles such as Depth of field, back light, etc.

Depending on the design, the image style can convey a wide range of feelings and impressions with which the brand wants to be associated: is it approachable, friendly, low-threshold, for example? Or edgy, trendy, provocative? Reliable, precise, innovative? Exclusive, high quality, sophisticated? In combination with brand design and tonality, the image style conveys the character and positioning of the brand in the literal sense at first glance.

Bilder müssen der Marke gerecht werden

Neben der Bildsprache wollen natürlich auch Bildinhalte sorgfältig definiert und auf die gewünschte Aussage überprüft sein. Optimalerweise konzipiert man im Rahmen des Brandingprozesses Motive und Look, um in einem Shooting das Bildmaterial zu produzieren. So kann man alle Aspekte steuern und exklusiv für die eigene Marke kreieren, angefangen von der Wahl des Fotografen bzw. der Fotografin, dessen oder deren Handschrift zum visuellen Konzept passt.

If you resort to material from image databases, it makes sense to refrain from stereotypical, overused or overly obvious motifs when selecting them: Symbolic images of handshakes or puzzle pieces fitting together say nothing specific about your brand’s performance and added value, and a key goal of branding is differentiation. An adequate visual language in the context of the corresponding brand design, on the other hand, has the power to make a brand distinguishable from the competition and to charge even rather unemotional products or content and make them accessible.