shock photography

Most clients see it as an easy way to cut costs and some designers see it as an easy way to great imagery. The photo library!

They've been around for years and god bless 'em they've embraced the internet like it's some kind of saviour. So much so that now it's not just an easy option for designers, it's thier first point of call. Picture the scene. Monday morning in your typical design studio. The Creative Director gathers his troops to announce that there is a new brief to be worked on and some poor sod has been told to trawl through the online photo libraries to look for suitable images. What the hell does that Creative Director think he's gonna get? Well I can tell you. He'll end up with a pile of sterile images that fall far short of what he wants to communicate, a bunch of bland shots that will never effectively communicate a brand because of their overall state of nothingness. But what the hell, he'll go with them anyway.

Stock photography is the paint by numbers of the design world. When you log on to their website it's like passing through those spinning yellow, urine coloured doors of Ikea. You leave your imagination behind. They will try and dress it up as the cutting edge of creativity and the place to buy (as will the photo libraries), but mass appeal does not equate to good design. It's just plain lazy. The right images require the input of the designer and the client to develop something that is unique, and when this is done successfully you have an image that not only is right but it embraces your brand without a hint of ambiguity. I know that this takes a little extra time and money but it's time and money well spent and it will, without question focus your brand to where you want it to be.

So look at it like this: Stock photography is the Ikea of branding. They might sell hot dogs but boy do they give you indigestion.