The Positive Impact of Simplicity in Your Imagery

I’ve spent the past few months surrounded by some of the most beautiful parts of this country, but today I want to share with you the beauty of — and the need for — simplicity in your brand’s imagery.

I love storytelling images filled with emotions and details and *sunlight sparkles,* but I am equally fond of minimalistic images that make a soul-stinging impact on the viewer. Those are the ones I am highlighting here…

Simplicity in Settings

Four words: Let the products shine!

An image with a single product is providing a clear direction for its audience. When you watch out for distracting colors or other objects in the frame, you create a transparent message. Clients see the product shining bright on its own; there are no additional elements they have to work through. They see the image and are immediately struck by the exact content you want them to see.

An image with a clear message is effective marketing.

You take one look at the image above and you immediately see the bright red Explorer Pack from P.L.A.Y. thanks to the muted-color setting we photographed it in. You also get a sense of adventure (it is an explorer pack, after all) thanks to the rocky, uninhabited landscape.

Simplicity in Composition

When compositions are kept simple and arranged carefully and thoughtfully, the imagery becomes an even juicier marketing win. Simplistic composition gives you more flexibility. Leaving room on the sides, top, or bottom of images gives brands the option to edit. That means your high-quality imagery becomes an easily customizable piece of marketing material.

Simplistic composition allows you to crop, overlay headlines, or add body copy.

For example, the image above could just as easily be cropped vertically with text on top as it could cropped panoramic across a full catalog spread with a headline and body text on the left. See? From simplicity comes flexibility!

Simplicity in Use

If you know your brand needs imagery for a very specific use or campaign, then work to create the perfect image for it rather than 20 so-so images that don’t hit your goals on-the-nose!

Simply stated: working closely with your photographer helps you achieve your goals.

If you know before the shoot that you need a tall, skinny portrait-oriented image for in-store advertising (like the above example), your photographer can create an image to perfectly fit the space. Need a really wide panoramic shot? Yep, we photographers can do that, too! How about square images for a specific ad space? I think you can see where I’m going with this… 

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There you have it! It’s powerfully simple. The most important thing to remember is the underlying message of your imagery. Every brand needs product and lifestyle imagery, so when you’re up for new product photos, don’t forget the need for simplicity in your imagery!