26/03/08
Staff Photos
This afternoon, I put out a question to the twitterverse:
“does anyone know of any good examples of ‘staff photos’ done right? Not cheesy or trying too hard?”
I’ve been wanting to add photos of Leigh and I to the About pages for a while now, but haven’t found the right approach. Clients like to see a photo of who they might want to hire, especially so on the internet, where you may never meet face to face.
A part of me has always wanted to follow in the footsteps of Big Top Design’s glorious Christmas cards:
It’s very hard to pitch comedy right, but they manage it. I’m not sure we could pull of it off though, so I’ve been looking for ideas. I got a great response from the twitterverse, with suggestions ranged from the inventive but slightly sinister Booreiland, to the pixelly Glue, vectory Airside or cut-outy Poke. Other good ones were Happy Cog and the NYTimes design team
I won’t be linking to the bad ones though, but here are the main reasons that I felt they didn’t work:
- Inconsistent. Some photos were high quality studio pieces, while some people had dodgy cameraphone pictures taken at a party.
- Mood. Cheesy smiles are preferable to moody ‘Joshua Tree Cover’ style sullenness. Natural, warm and friendly are preferable to “Hey! I’m a frickin’ model!” poses. Although I guess all of these are preferable to looking bored or indifferent!
- Pictures of you when you were 3 may win the cute vote with some people, but clients like to see what you look like now.
- Also, it’s not a hard and fast rule, but I found it helped when the subjects were looking at you, as it felt like they were interested. Carsonified manage to be an exception though – perhaps because they mix it with some looking straight on?
Overall, my favourite has been Playgroup:
It’s warm and friendly. The style is consistent, and where a photo doesn’t exist yet, they’ve used a silhouette, rather than than hastily cut out goofy image. Above all, it’s not trying too hard. These are people that you feel you could talk to, and work with.
Got any more suggestions? Leave a comment!
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Alex Buga said 47 days ago:
I think you and Leigh should pose in something that suits you well. That would be sincere and modest and obviously not cheesy.
Eli Van Zoeren said 47 days ago:
While using a silhouette when a photo isn’t available is a nice idea, it would be better not to use the silhouette of the woman directly above. Not only does it look a bit weird to anyone who is paying attention, I would think it might give both of them a bit of an identity crisis.
Ryan said 47 days ago:
Hey Jon
Thanks for the mention :)
I agree – Playgroup’s photos are fab
Cheers,
Ryan
scartoonist said 47 days ago:
I’m not sure I like the semaphore aspect when viewed as a group. But it’s obviously a talented photographer behind it all.
I tried to find it for you but failed: I recently saw a design collective in which the staff were depicted as toilets. A lesson in what not to do.
Marty said 47 days ago:
I like how vimeo and MIR do theirs.
Dan Davies said 47 days ago:
I’ve always been a fan of the ay Firebox shows staff photos: http://www.firebox.com/index.html?dir=admin&action=contact
Original, and in most cases humorous.
Chris Erwin said 47 days ago:
I really like the way Poke did their cut-outs. Our company, teehan+lax , has a nice simple setup.
Sean Murphy said 47 days ago:
I have always been a fan of the way The Big Noob does their photos.
Sandra said 47 days ago:
I quite like the approach at fusefarm, an Australien web design company. (Never met them or anything, just stumpled upon their site :))
It fits the farm concept and it’s fun.
Ben Spencer said 47 days ago:
The first thing that came to mind is the poster for Will Ferrell’s new film, STEP BROTHERS. Worth a look!
View STEP BROTHERS poster
Matthew Pennell said 47 days ago:
I think you should recreate famous movie shots. I can just see you as Marilyn in The Seven Year Itch…
Sophie Dennis said 47 days ago:
I agree the Playgroup set is by far the best example. I’m not sure I’d have labelled them “Playmates” though – but maybe that’s just me ;-)
I always advise people to avoid group team shots – inevitably someone leaves and someone joins and then you’ve got all the hassle of reshooting it. Better to find a consistent style and get individual shots taken.
And you can’t beat using a good photographer.
lm said 47 days ago:
One idea could be: you both hug a tree but if there is no tree in your new design, then get on a plane ( from old Rissington picture) and look at us from its windows.
Bob said 47 days ago:
I’m a big fan of Mediasauce. I like how you can group and filter by the different categories. Fun.
Marcus Taylor said 46 days ago:
Anyone who gets time to do their own website is on to a winner, full stop (period, for our state side friends). Having said, that it’s an impossible task!
Jo said 46 days ago:
Here is another take on the cartoon likeness style.
http://adrenalinmedia.com.au/staffprofiles.asp
Bret said 46 days ago:
Humanized has a pretty agreeable photo spread.
Jon Hicks said 46 days ago:
I like Humanized, that’s a great example!
MIR could well be the favourite though!
Justin said 46 days ago:
Bent Tree Bible Fellowship has an interesting approach. I especially like the separate pages for each person in a full length photo, standing casually and looking directly at you with a smile. Comfortable and inviting to me.
Matt Hamm said 45 days ago:
This is how we do it at Kyan:
http://kyanmedia.com/about
Prentiss Riddle said 45 days ago:
One problem with the group photo approach (like Subtraction) is what to do when there are personnel changes. If your organization is tiny and housed in a single office, perhaps you can redo the group photo every time there’s a change, but that’s a hassle and someone is always bound to have a bad hair day.
I really like the look at YDreams but functionally it’s problematic: you can’t search for someone by name! And with that many people you can’t really scan for faces, either.
In addition to good models, I could use some tips about best practices for cropping. Neck up? Shoulders up? Keep uniform face sizes or permit variation? Force everything into a square or a 4:6-ratio rectangle?
And are there specific things to keep in mind when your team is dispersed and you’re forced to use whatever photos people can lay their hands on, rather than a uniform style by a uniform (and competent) photographer?
M. Jackson Wilkinson said 42 days ago:
Not to self-promote, especially since I thought it would be very cheesy when I initially heard about how we were going to be doing it, but I think ours at Viget Labs came out fairly well.
Charles Roper said 42 days ago:
How about a play on Dr Who, similar to the Step Brothers poster (you could be The Doctor while Leigh could be your assistant). Could be quite subtle and not too cheesy, but would be a nice bit of gentle wit for those who know you or read your blog regularly.
Sonic screwdriver at the ready!
Justin Dickinson said 42 days ago:
I liked the style of the old place I worked: Martino Flynn
All those are shot in an actual photo booth at the local mall. People write their own bios and come up with their own concepts for the photos. It’s a great way to “get to know” the agency.
Gareth Jones said 32 days ago:
Impressed by Hot Studio?
Andreas said 28 days ago:
I really like the team photos of the Estonian National Agency of the Youth in Action Programme, if you allow me to throw something completely different in:
Team page Estonian NA (A great team presented well)
Nick Clement said 21 days ago:
We did this of late.
http://www.anorakdigital.com/the-team/