When designing a product, be it a book cover, CD label, DVD, ect. You have to take the subject matter into consideration when choosing what stock photos to work with. And slapping in a photo that is appealing but not relevant to the subject will confuse your customers. In this article I will explain the process that I use in choosing the right photo for a design.
STOCK PHOTOS?
Stock photography is the supply of photographs licensed for specific uses. It is used to fulfill the needs of creative assignments instead of hiring a photographer. Today, stock images can be presented in searchable online databases. They can be purchased and delivered online. Often, they are produced in studios using a wide variety of models posing as professionals, stereotypes, expressing stereotypical emotions and gesticulations or involving pets.
WHERE DO I GET STOCK PHOTOS?
As mentioned above their are a variety of stock photo sites both free and pay-per-download. I recommend:
A great pay site with the most relevant design worthy photos anywhere. Second there is a free site by the makers of istock called www.sxc.hu this site has lots of photos free for download. However be sure to check the licensing. Also a lot of them are low-res and cheesy. But you will find some gems.
SUBJECT MATTER
The subject matter is determined by the product that the design is for. You can often glean the subject matter from the title. EXAMPLE: “ANGER a misunderstood emotion” by: Dr. George T. Crabb, D.O. a book I designed in October of 2010. This is a very topical book with a topical title. So its very easy to discern from the title that the subject matter is anger. Now after discussing the cover with the author i found he wanted to emphasize anger issues among church members I came up with this design.
A composition of a photo of a woman angry a church in the background and textures and colors. This is a good representation of both the title and subject. (NOTE): For those of you who might be authors a title that has nothing to do with the subject of a book will give the designer great difficulty in creating a cover. In many cases a designer will choose to design for the title versus the book subject. For Example:
This Cover’s construction concept revolved around the word “Works”. The title does not acuratly portray the subject matter. So I created a design off of the title. This can also go the other way where the title is so generic that the cover created will be a generic cover. A generic cover is one that is a simple picture usually a nature picture, or some color texture combination.
Example:
Even with a Generic design you can make it relevant notice the bridge going over can be related to the word overcoming in the sub-title. Often a subtitle which gives the book a little more explanation gives the designer more room to design. A subtitle can give the subject or a keyword or phrase that gives the designer that golden moment idea in design to take this design to the next level.
Example:
This covers coffee theme is based off the phrase found in the subtitle “perfect blend”.
COMPLICATED CONCEPTS THAT REQUIRE A COMPLICATED DESIGN
I have had the experience of working for an faith-based addictions program whose main writer and founder loved to create rhyming titles for some very hard to follow concepts. There are two ways you can go about designing for a hard concept with a hard title.
1. Understand the Concept and create a photo-composition.
One of my strong suits is creating photo-composition. Photo-composition is where you take two or more photos and combine them together in photoshop to create a concept image. The idea being that they look like they belong for the most part as one photo. Two examples of this are:
2. Create a very nice though Generic design. (Last Resort)
Ok so you are stumped and the author won’t give you any good thoughts on what he wants. Think pretty generic picture, color, and texture. Make a simple design. Here is an example:
I really hope this article has been helpful to both designers and clients alike. At IFBDesign we want to take your project to the next level by creating graphics that are relevant to the customer. We strive for excellence in design “Because the Message Matters”.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
WOW!!! Ben your article on choosing the right stock photo was AMAZING. I really have a hard time understanding all this computer graphics stuff, but I was so into that article that I followed right along and feel like I could even pick a good photo for a design and I am not even a designer. Thank you for the good tips and wisdom. Emily
The article writing style looks professional change the font to make it easier to read.
I like the way you presented your ideas. the order and your writing style. I’m not a designer, i’m more on the client side. these can help a lot us to have some ideas regarding the designing matter. To interact with my designer I need to be well informed in designing matter sometimes. Thank you for the information.
Great post!
A good Information Tq For Sharing
Amazing, i am jealous of the creativity these people posses.
Thank you for that interesting and educational post about choosing the right stock photo.
Your designs are very cool thanks for sharing. keep up the good work.
Thanks for the tips! Trying to figure out how to use more photos on my site.
great post thank you so much for sharing this to us.it is a good insight.
Thanks for sharing this education post..
What a nice blog that you share..Thanks! |
i love reading these kinds of posts.. it really touches my soul and i find comfort reading it.. i would love to share this with my friends. i know they will love and appreciate this
To interact with my designer I need to be well informed in designing matter sometimes. Thank you for the information.
Now I won’t be obliged to take pictures everywhere, seems like I am a stalker. LOL This post greatly help me to where I am supposed to go to. Thanks very much. Once I got a picture of a fighting cock for my post, I got a the shock of my life when I was run over by other roosters.
I really have a hard time understanding all this computer graphics stuff, but I was so into that article that I followed right along and feel like I could even pick a good photo for a design and I am not even a designer.
Great article, thanks for sharing this blog. Very informative blog post. Keep it up!
Now I won’t be obliged to take pictures everywhere, seems like I am a stalker. LOL This post greatly help me to where I am supposed to go to. Thanks very much. |
Yes that’s right, if you made a blog and you’re subject are not relevant to the readers, those visitors has get confused.
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