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Re-enforcement of Brand Value: Visual Composition of Brand Image
The brand construction of an enterprise can be divided into many stages. In addition to corporate identity, the visual composition of corporate image plays an important role in today's branding program. Corporate image allows the visualization of the corporate culture, and as a link in brand communication, especially for the end consumers, it is an important medium to connect the product or service with the brand. As a part of brand communication, especially for end-users, it is an important medium for linking products or services to the brand. Compared to using text alone, images can help target audiences to receive the message that the company wants to convey more easily.
This time, we invited Li Ruanxiu, who has been engaged in commercial photography for many years, and EPILEDS YEH, the former creative director of Process Pro brand, to share how brand consultants and photographers work together to shape and communicate with brands, and to influence consumers' perception of the brand through the most direct and final images.
Li Ruanxiu (left) and EPILEDS YEH (right) talk about how brand consultants and photographers work together to make branding and communication through the most terminal and direct images to influence consumers' perception of the brand.
In Process Pro Brand's 5-step branding process, the photography and selection of corporate images is a back-end implementation, but in the early stages of brand identity strategy development, consultants and designers will propose brand images in their proposals. EPILEDS YEH's Creative Director said that according to the core value of the brand, the various possibilities of corresponding images are listed, and then communicated with the photographer to develop the Shooting Guideline.
"I will discuss the possibility of shooting with the photographer to see if there is a way to realize the expected camera angle, and then make corrections in the text to the client's proposal," he said. Like a few days ago won the iF design award of Taiwan pump brand PRORIL, in the shooting before, the designer and photographer must be in the venue, clothing, shooting angle, mirror image, the development of the script, to do the text on the amendment and discussion, to ensure the consistency of the shooting.
Li Ruanxiu said that, for photographers, before shooting brand images, to understand the brand's appeal point, "because each brand has its tone, it is best to communicate with the designer, such as this sub-tone is not suitable, in order to find out the style of photography, to ensure that the target audience to receive the same thing as the brand wants to convey. However, these discussions are all part of the front-end communication, which is also a more complicated area.
Thorough discussion beforehand is a must
"In addition to the discussion in the preliminary stage, the designers will also have preliminary photos (image) as reference in the brand proposal, to discuss whether there is any need for adjustment; the environment of the site, the climate, and how to make a compromise and the most appropriate choice between the expected and the actual." EPILEDS YEH said. Therefore, before the shooting, the client basically has a rough idea of the actual light source, the character's attire, and the design of the venue.
Therefore, the coordination and communication with the client is very complicated and important before the execution of the shooting. Lee said that if the brand image is referenced to a scene abroad with high level of detail, but the client's conditions are not as good, the photographer will jump in and "tell the client what ways there might be to avoid the bad parts and bring out the good parts," he said.
On the designer's end, there will be internal communication with the client's branding project manager, for example, how they want the target audience to feel, what kind of situation they want, all of which must be fully discussed beforehand because the way the photographer handles it is just like shooting a movie, the camera angles will be determined, and it will proceed according to the plan, "A photographer's time is money! Time is money for a photographer!" said EPILEDS YEH.
How Photography Shapes Corporate Identity
Li Nguyen Thuy said that the enterprise's own personality and culture will affect the way of expression of the results of photography, he compared this intangible quality to the human personality, he said, "If you can communicate fully in the early stage, to allow the design and photography to fully play, the image will be able to give full play to the image of the enterprise." For example, in the case of PRORIL, he studied the shooting angles of other competitors' image photos, and found that most of them were taken at a 45-degree angle of elevation, "because this allows the buyers of the product to see clearly what the product looks like."
However, after he discussed with the designers, they told the owner to shoot at a slightly elevated angle. Although the product's features are not so strong compared to a 45-degree angle, "our stuff is something with texture and power, it's not meant to be viewed very clearly, and if you want to see it clearly, you can just look at the statement. If you want to see it clearly, you can just read the report. This kind of shooting can make the product and the tone, a higher level," he said. In this way, the brand of PRORIL is different from other competitors and unique.
EPILEDS YEH added, in fact, PRORIL's peers, if they do not distinguish the color, many people will think that it is the same brand, so they take the approach of using the color as a brand differentiation, like "Coca-Cola, sells Coke, but in fact sells that image of 'red', to become a memorable brand.
Benefits of working with a brand consultant
There was once a client, in the absence of a brand consultant, or the development of the brand's mindset, asked Li Ruanxiu to shoot with a bright sense of Japanese grocery brands, but he found that his products in fact do not have such a tone, if he used such an atmosphere to implement the words, it would be very contradictory, he said: "good photography and brand design is to find out what the brand in the end to what.
Therefore, if there is only a photographer, of course, the photographer can take a beautiful picture, but to take the brand personality out of it, in fact, is quite difficult, because photography is only a part of the brand, but the brand is about integration, if a brand has a photography of the A tone, the design of the B tone, in to the media of the C tone, to the brand itself, it is a deduction.
He observed that there are often business owners because of the long-term involvement, sometimes instead of seeing their own brand direction, so if there is an external brand consultant to coordinate the integration of the professional team to execute, the owners can concentrate on their own industry, so that each other's professionalism, to do the maximum degree of understanding, is more efficient. It is more efficient to let each other's profession understand each other to the fullest extent, because the brand consultant can help clarify any doubts that may arise in the process of implementation and help the enterprise to return to the nature of the brand.
EPILEDS YEH shares that when some brands come to seek help, it may not necessarily be a drastic revision of the logo. Instead, he believes that sometimes the development of images and publicity products is more like a "miniature brand transformation", making people feel that the brand has evolved in accordance with the evolution of the style of the living environment. He points out that many Western brands are accustomed to using images to convey their characteristics, and thus enhance their value, because When the target audience sees the image, they experience an atmosphere that creates the idea and feeling of wanting to "become the user inside".
It is clear that images are very important for brands.
So here are 3 tips on how brand images can help your brand to improve again:
1. Work closely with brand consultants: because brand consultants can help brands clarify issues, help companies return to the nature of the brand, help integrate a variety of design applications, including brand image photography.
2. Sufficient prior discussion: Whether it is between the brand consultant and the owner, or the designer and the photographer, it is necessary.
3. Consistency of corporate image: Image is not only the photographer to show the power of the media, but also an extension of the overall application of the brand to ensure consistency is very important.
About Us
Currently working as kinki photo Fai Creative Photography Photographer, used to work in the world magazine contract photography, Jiebi Photography. Worked with many corporate organizations, including PROCESS, IF DESIGN ASIA, TAIWAN DESIGN CENTER, and so on.
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