Using lifestyle photography to create connection in design

I’ve had a few conversations lately about the importance of using lifestyle photography when creating designs and why it can make such a huge impact when trying to connect with your audience.

As humans we love connections, we love to hear real stories and we love being able to see people having a great time whilst imagining we’re there too.

Human brands create stronger human connections.
Just take a look at the likes of Nike or Coca-Cola. Their most successful campaigns, the ones that we remember, rarely feature product imagery as the main focus of those campaigns - they focus on the lifestyles of their consumers.

There’s some great reasons to use people imagery within your brand design including…

• Using lifestyle imagery within your design increases authenticity & trust - even more so when these are your own brand photos of people using your products over stock imagery.

• Emotional connections fuel around 95% of purchase decisions, lifestyle imagery can help create that emotional bond.

• Seeing a familiar face can increase responses by up to 35%. So get your teams involved!
  People love to see friendly Karan from reception or smiley Matty from the restaurant.

• If information is paired with relevant imagery, then people retain around 65% of the information, compared to only 10% without.

Some things to consider when deciding on your brand imagery…

• What are your customers are really buying?
Are they buying your product because they need it to survive, or are they buying it because it will enhance their life in some way?

• Make sure it’s relevant.
If you’re aiming to target retirees, then don’t use a bunch of teenagers in your imagery - it’s not relatable for your target audience.

• Do the emotions of the people in those images reflect the emotions you’re trying to create for your customers?

• Check it’s right for the situation - plastering your ‘drunken-night-out-face’ all over your business card might not be the best medium or choice for professional settings.

Need some help using some lifestyle imagery in your brand?