Art Direction - Photography

Provided Art Direction, design, and production support for brand photography at both CustomInk and Literati. Beyond Art Direction on set, I designed shots, created shot lists, coordinated talent, developed designs for t-shirts, styled product, and did post-production on final visuals.

I approach art direction for photography from a designer’s mind set. What do I need help me best illustrate the value and support copy for my project? What will tell the story quickly and effectively and solve the client’s needs and achieve their goals? This often leads to brainstorming, and sketching exactly what I need in my prototypes, and design comps. These sketches influence the shot list, and help with direction and styling on set. They also set expectations with stakeholders for the results, process, and design decision making.

LIFESTYLE PHOTOGRAPHY

CustomInk had rebranded and needed to focus on creating a unique visual style to the photography to set the brand apart from competitors, and establish themselves as a leader for custom products and events. I partnered closely with the Photographer and Brand Manager to establish a look and feel to the visuals of the brand. What did customers look like? What was on their products? How did we illustrate how to use our website, and how did we talk about ourselves?

All of these were questions that myself and the photographer iterated on to achieve a specific brand look within the photo library. Below is a selection of imagery that speaks to a customer’s experience, and how the company wanted them to feel when ordering for their event. We reach out to real customers who loved their experience and asked them to be part of our photoshoots. This gave us real people, true customer segments, genuine smiles, and allowed us to curate the clothing they were wearing in the imagery for legibility and aesthetics.

Literati was building on a existing visual library, but wanted to create moments that felt more authentic, and highlighted true interactions with their products. I focused on real moments that kids have with their favorite books. Where do they read, how do they sit, and how can we make reading look dynamic?

I sketched out detailed shots lists, with scenes that spoke to a specific reader’s age ( ie: Baby vs Pre-Teen), and addressed the gaps in our photo library that were desperately needed by Marketing and Product teams. While on set, I supported the photographer by ensuring they knew the crop, the ideal use case, and that the product was visible without feeling forced.

PRODUCT PHOTOGRAPHY

CustomInk had an extensive product image library devoted to the eCommerce purchasing on the website. Straight forward, without a story. They needed to expand the styled marketing product photography to support efforts in online marketing, email, and direct mail targeted to specific customers. How do we illustrate that a customer can make their own design on the site? How do we show that we are more than t-shirts? What kind of color stories, and unique arranging can we create to grab a customers attention?

I developed imagery that could be utilized across channels to highlight design and color options. I partnered with Merchandising to style product on set for 12+ monthly catalogs highlighting offering and designs that spoke directly to a unique customer segment. I quickly edited and cropped imagery on set, to ensure it worked with production layouts to ensure efficient post-production and delivery of assets.

Literati needed to continually explore and expand the variety of ways that we highlighted books, and illustrated the value of the subscription box. Based on my explorations with UX and Visual design for the website I was able to develop an on-going shot list for what was needed for Marketing and Product purposes to better educate the customer, and support copy and CTAs on the website, emails, and adverstising.

I created sketches and iterated on those to create shots list for various campaigns, and to support general needs of the company. I supported the studio photographer on set with book selection, and styling. I also worked closely with the lifestyle photographer to explore more ways to highlight our product in the home and at school to better tell its full story.