2 Visual Style

Creating a coherent identity program involves more than slapping a bug on baseball hats and polo shirts. The style of additive visual elements—photography, illustration, etc.—truly helps define an identity program.

Sometimes, designers overlook the obvious. Granted, there’s a fine line between obvious and banal, and you do not want to cross it. Keep in mind, however, that art and design serve different purposes. Art is a one-to-one communication. Design needs to communicate directly with a specific group of people. When developing the photography or illustration style for a program, you don’t need to trade clarity for sophistication. A lot of programs flounder by using sophisticated, but unclear imagery. Fall into this trap, and you fail to communicate anything.

Insightful use of communicative images reinforces—and in some cases, establishes—a program’s visual tone.

1–3. Le Touessrok
Pentagram
John Rushworth, Charlotte Fritzberg, Jess Earle, Graham Montgommery, Jan Baldwin, Karim Illya, Naresh Ramchandani

4. Cinémoi
The Luxury of Protest
Stefan Boublil, Peter Crnokrak, Ekaterina Erschowa

5. 2FRESH LLC
2FRESH

6. Rebel Green
Wink
Richard Boynton, Scott Thares

7. Kresimir Tadija Kapulica
Bunch
Vanja Šolin of Process 15

Color or black-and-white photography, editorial or non-representational illustrations: A strong and clear image style helps define a program aesthetic.