How to Create Amazing Photos for Your Emails on Zero Budget
When it comes to running a business, effective branding is a "must." It seeps into everything you do — from your marketing strategy to your customer interactions. Branding helps you define:
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- Who your business is
- What your business does
- How you visually communicate #1 and #2 to your potential and current customers
Start with stock photos
You’re probably using stock photos. Stock images are a fantastic option for those who are short on time and resources. Nowadays, you can find great free images to use at your disposal. Some of my favorite sources include:- Unsplash.com
- Pexels.com
- Pixabay.com
- AWeber.com (Customers have access to hundreds of free stock images in our image gallery.)
How to brand stock photos
As a Brand Designer for the AWeber team, I wanted to change this. I wanted to create unity across all our assets — our blog, social feeds, ads, and emails — and put our own twist on the stock images we used. I wanted them to be modern. I wanted them to pack a punch, and for readers to instantly know they were AWeber’s images. I wanted to brand stock photos. In order to change the way we handled our stock photography, I looked at what was currently missing from our blog images: consistency, color, and fun. Here's what our blog looked like before: Keeping those three things in mind, I added new brand elements overtop of stock photos to make them more personalized and eye catching. Then, to enhance consistency, I started using a subtle, warm-color overlay to create similar feelings across all images. But I didn’t want all the overlays to be the same. And I didn’t want them to be totally different, either. So I started to systematize the color themes to correspond with our different article categories. For instance, an article about "writing better emails" would have a blue to green color shift, and an article about "designing better emails" (like this story!) would use an orange to yellow color shift. Finally, I wanted to make our images more FUN! In an attempt to do something a little different and unexpected, we incorporated the color additions within varying geometric shapes — like circles, rectangles, and pentagons. The shapes are placed in a way that benefits the composition of the image. We applied this new branding style to all our content — blog articles, social posts, ads, and landing pages. We even incorporated elements into our new blog newsletter sign up page. Here's a before and after of our blog with the branded stock images. (Unlike other email service providers, AWeber offers unlimited image hosting — so you can upload as many images as you want with no quotas to worry about.)More ways to brand stock photos
You can easily make similar changes to your stock images today by pulling elements from your logo, website, or blog to personalize the look. (I recommend using free editing software like Canva or Pixlr.) Some ways you can make quick branding updates include:- Use brand colors: You can overlay them on top of the image or use them behind text so that it becomes easier to read. Make sure your font colors are the same on your blog, website, and emails.
- Pull shapes that reoccur on your site or are used within your logo: This is specifically great for those who use any icons within their logo (the simpler the shape the better). It can also help as a divider between your image and text.
- Use fonts that are used in your logo or as plain type on your website: It’s important to pick a font that is easy to read and, ironically, not too original. Typically fonts that are not commonly used as standard type like “Lobster” or “Brush Script” can be hard to read at a quick glance. In order for your images to stand out, you want people to know exactly what you are saying right away.
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