Choosing the right emotional tone during image curation is essential to creating an advertising campaign that will resonate with your audience.
Modern humans live in an overwhelmingly visual world. Cell phones, laptops, tvs, billboards, magazines— we are surrounded by visual advertisements competing for our attention. In this sensory jungle, it is increasingly difficult to capture your audience’s attention for long enough to resonate. Choosing the right emotional tone during the image curation process can help your brand stand out from the crowd.
What is image curation?
Image curation is the process of sifting through large amounts of archives and methodically selecting images around a specific theme. A curator searches and collects the most appropriate and effective images for an intended use. In marketing, image curation is vital for use in advertising, social media, sales collateral, websites and other communication channels. Depending on the size and format of the company, curation may be executed in-house by marketing directors, designers, social media managers, or outside agencies.
Getting off to a good start
Before jumping into the curation process, you’ll want to review any existing brand guides or design briefs. Adhering to brand guidelines will ensure the curator selects the most appropriate photos for the brand’s overall identity. Some guides may contain examples of images the brand has used for previous collateral. Look carefully for references to the brand’s tone, ideals, and voice— these will also provide some clues to the emotional tone you should be reflecting in your curation. Design briefs will detail the campaign’s objective and specifications, as well as provide context for the image’s eventual audience and presentation location.
Define your goals
A well-defined understanding of the image’s performance needs will help the curator filter through the many nuances they confront in the archive. If this is not clearly defined, discuss the project with your marketing team to develop definitive answers. Take inventory of the attributes you are looking for in the final image to create a list of criteria. Your list should include the subject matter, emotional tone, colors, format and any other specific qualities for the image. Here is a sample list of criteria:
Project: College Fund Billboard Image for Financial Management Company
Corresponding Copy: “We’ll work on a college fund so you can work on your family time”
Overall Project Theme: Family sharing quality time while camping
Subject Elements: Tent, Campfire, Logs, Trees, Sleeping bags, 4-5 person family, Lanterns
Format: Landscape, 3:2 ratio
Emotional Tone of Project: Key features: Togetherness, warmth | Secondary features: lighthearted but not whimsical, warm, fun (but not silly), happy, family-friendly, social
Brand tone: Personal, relaxed, responsible
Colors: Dark, rich, warm tones
The quest begins!
You’ve made it to the stock agency’s website and your cursor is in the search bar. Here, you’ll be able to enter keywords based on subject matter and often refine your search with additional filters like color and format. You won’t be able to filter by is emotional tone, and this is where the real work begins. As you begin sifting through your results, look for images that strongly communicate the emotional theme and mood of the project. Remember that the image’s emotional tone will have more impact on your audience than the individual elements in the photo. You may only have a moment to grab the viewer’s attention and impart your message, so consider glancing quickly at the images and asking yourself—was the image memorable? Did it communicate your overall goal?
Creating a collection
It’s unlikely that you’ll find an image that perfectly meets all the criteria on your list. Most curators will cull together a small collection of images with subtle variations, providing the marketing team with a variety of options. Here is our curated collection for the project:
In this case study, we’ve selected a final image that fits the overall theme, color palette, and emotional tone, but did NOT check off every box. Despite missing some criteria, the image resonates far more with audiences because it overwhelmingly captures the emotional tone of togetherness and warmth we were looking for.
If your business or organization needs assistance with curation, or any other step in the marketing and design process, Direct Development can help. Contact us to learn more about the services offered by our our pr and marketing team.
