Telling your story visually is super important especially when most posts get a minimum of 1.7 seconds of view time. The editorial industry knows this, that’s why a good part of the budget is spent on colorful illustration, cartoons or professional thought provoking photography. As a graphic designer, I know how important it is to find the right visual that will both grab attention and relate to the story that is being told.

Whether you choose photography or illustration it matters to your brand. It’s the image that will provoke that feeling, the look and enhance the idea behind what you are trying to get across to the public. In choosing photography for instance from a top stock house, it is important that it doesn’t look like you just grabbed some photos and randomly placed them within your text. The visuals should relate in subject and in color. Maybe an artistic touch, or a composite to meld the visuals together creating a visual story. The right design elevates general stock photos making your project unique.

What if you are interested in an illustration? You don’t have to have the “perfect” photo to start with. Sometimes if you have a few photos, because you never know which one the artist will want to work with, you have enough to begin. My client, for example, had separate photos of her and her husband and asked that I create an image with both of them together – creating a personalized image.