Identity systems

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Photography direction as part of identity

Lesson 16 of 18 in Identity systems.

The creative direction playbook for brands (Rhode case study) · orenmeetsworld
Lesson

Photography is usually the largest surface a brand owns and the one most often left undirected. A carefully built identity with six approved colours and a custom typeface will still look like nothing in particular if its pictures are whatever the last agency had licensed.

herodetailin usescalepacksparecount the frames before the day, not during it
A shot list as a grid of frames: hero, detail, in use, scale and pack.
An ink drawing of a designer between two pinboards, the left covered in mismatched photographs with different colours and crops, the right in photographs that share warm side light and the same framing.
Two pinboards: one of mismatched photographs, one where every picture shares the same light, framing and finish. Direction is what makes pictures look like one brand.
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  1. Question 1, locked

    Which of these words means this? “The decisions made before the shutter: who, where, in what light, cropped how.”

    • Stacked lockup
    • Icon grid
    • Art direction
    • Identity system
  2. Question 2, locked

    Which of these words means this? “What happens to every image afterwards. Grade, grain, crop ratio.”

    • Reduction
    • Positive
    • Treatment
    • Commission brief
  3. Question 3, locked

    Which of these words means this? “Existing pictures that define the target. Faster and clearer than any adjective.”

    • Audio brand guidelines
    • Wordmark
    • Responsive logo
    • Reference set

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