How to Customize Stock Images for Your Brand
Stock images are incredibly convenient and cost-effective. But they can also be a bit plain and take away from your brand if you aren’t careful. The best way to ensure that a stock image accentuates your brand is to customize it to match.
10 Stock Image Customizations
There are several ways to customize a stock image. Here’s a look at the top 10 customizations to help make your stock images resonate with your target audience.
1. Start with the Right Image
Poring over stock image websites to find the right image can be time-consuming. But it’s so worth it. Starting with a stock image that already speaks to who your brand is and what you offer your customers will be a great place to start.
As you go through stock images, consider how much image cleanup you’ll need to do to make it fit your brand. The less clean-up and change the image requires, the better fit it probably is for your brand naturally.
2. Remove Something from the Image
Taking something out of the image that’s distracting or shouldn’t be there can help your viewer focus on the aspects of the image that you want them to. For example, perhaps the image is crowded and because of that, the viewer will struggle to see and feel the emotions of the primary subject. Removing additional people or objects from the foreground can help provide the focus and attention you want.
3. Add Something to the Image
Just like you can take things away from the image, adding something to it can also help it match your brand. Perhaps you want to stitch two images together. If so, make sure the lighting is the same in both images or bringing them together won’t look right. You also want to pay attention to the perspective of each image. While you can alter the perspective a bit to make the two images match, doing too much with the perspective can make images look odd.
4. Enhance the Color
Make the image more vibrant. You don’t want to go too crazy with this customization but with the right touches, the image can fit better with your branding and tone. A little more vibrancy can also help your image stand out on the page to invite your viewer to engage with it more completely.
5. Make One Color Bolder
In some situations, enhancing the color of the entire image won’t create the effect you want. Instead, exaggerate one color to build hyper-energy within the image. For example, brands that use red as a primary color might increase the red in an image to help make it fit in with its brand better. Just be sure that an enhanced photo matches your audience and your brand’s energy.
6. Use Black and White
Stripping an image down to black and white can work wonders for bringing it in line with your brand. But before you change it to black and white, increase the contrast ratio between lights and darks to give it a more artistic edge. This will accentuate the energy in the photo. Black and white photos are no frills but they can help you stay true to your message.
7. Make It Monochromatic
Take a brand color and make the image monochromatic. It’s best to use dark colors when using this stock image customization though. Starting with a lighter color can make the image look washed out. But in some cases, that’s the look that the design team is going for so it’s not to say that you can’t ever use light colors.
8. Transform Your Image with Duotone
This method starts with the foundation of a monochromatic image. Then you place it on a flat colored background. For example, you might use a dark blue for your monochromatic color and then place the image on a really light blue background. Then, all the colors from the original image that were white will be that light blue from the background.
When using this method, you might consider using two brand colors or a secondary brand color. Using the method on various materials can help build a brand association with those colors.
Additionally, duotone images are great for placing text overtop. Just be sure that you’re putting your type over an area of the photo that is especially light or dark and uses a high-contrast font color for accessibility.
9. Improve the Depth of Field
While most people think of depth of field in relation to taking a photo, you can adjust the depth of field after the fact. You can use this customization on any style of photo. This just requires blurring the background to invite your user to focus more on the primary subject of the image. This can help clean up the background and draw attention where you really want it.
10. Overlay Patterns
Brands often have a design element that is prevalent throughout their marketing materials. To bring an image into your brand’s overall style, you can overlay that branding element. Adding some white space around your photos and then overlaying it with a small shadow can also make the image look two-dimensional once it’s placed on a white background.
Once you’ve customized a stock image to match your branding, keep it in an image library that everyone who needs it can access. Even outside vendors should have access to your branded photo library. That way, you can make the most of these images and use them in other scenarios or reference them when working to customize new stock photography.
At Design Positive, we help brands build a cohesive appearance through branded images and graphics while doing it all in an access-to-all approach.
