Using photographs in your business and how not to fear them!
Using photographs in your business and how not to fear them!
The concept that we live in a visually dominated society will no doubt not be lost on you as you read this article on a website littered with photographs. What might be less obvious is the role images, and in particular photographs, play in the success or failure of modern businesses. To start we can easily explore this through the well-known phrase, and by this point cliché; “Photographs speak a thousand words” but this isn’t necessarily correct, photographs don’t speak they shout, and not always what you want them to be shouting about.
A great example that explains this requires us to journey a considerably way back before the advent of the photograph to the days of Plato… bare with me here I promise this will pay off. Plato’s Cave was an allegory depicting of a group who were born, raised, and lived their entire lives in the cave, never seeing the outside world. They only see the world outside through shadows cast by puppets on the cave walls, a twisted surreal world that only depicts whatever their keepers wish them to see. One of the group manages to escapes and flees to the outside and experiences a world beyond their imagining. Upon returning to the cave the escapee attempts to explain this world, but their comrades do not believe him, they reject his claims as absurd because for them it is impossible to see the world any other way than what they know. How then does this apply to business? The answer lies in the rejection of an unseen reality in favour of a fiction that can be seen. Your business will be judged on the images it uses to visualise itself, from product shots to team photos.
Keeping your business on top of its photographic image is simple just keep in mind these simple concepts:
Keep it clean
From product photos to team headshots, too much clutter or elaborate set pieces all act to distract the consumer, your customer, from what you are really trying to show them. This is what often trips up sellers in competitive markets as they try to stand out, simple and clear is always better than messy and confusing.
Avoid using the most popular stock images
Stock images are great, they are a cost-effective way to add images to your business but beware of using the most popular ones. We are constantly exposed to images; repeats are easily recognised from source to source having the potential to overshadow or distract from your business as your customer has seen it several times already.
Quality is King
People notice quality first. Using low resolution or poorly taken photographs stick out as badly as a poorly timed Pepsi ad. This is particularly important for product photographs, buyers will be put off by poor photographs that fail to show what they want to buy, not matter how good your written accompaniment is.
‘We see before we read’
Finally, if you remember this simple anecdote whenever you use photographs in your business you will be aware that no matter how good your written word is it will always be over shadowed by whatever photo is next to it. If that photograph is poor quality, overly crowded or irrelevant it will undermine the entire idea you are trying to communicate.
When used well, photographs have the ability to raise your business above the rest. When used badly they can sink your business to the lowest depths. Keep in mind the simple concepts above and you will be well along the road to visual success. If unsure the best option is always to seek the best advice as soon as possible, don’t leave your business’s image to chance.
Written by Alistair Grimley, an award-winning Visual Culture Researcher at the University of Central Lancashire and Business Development Executive at Recoup.
