What Do You Like?
Before going to a photo shooting or selecting a colour palette, you should have made up your mind what website style you are going for? Start looking for themes that you enjoy when looking at other websites. Do you love minimal and bright? Or rather dark and elegant? High contrast? Fresh and colourful? Creating a mood board or inspiration board can help to work out your preferred style & colours. Just take some time, search the internet and bookmark when you see something that you really like. Pinterest is a great tool to do this.
Prepare For A Professional Photo Shooting
If you choose to go for a professional photo shooting, then invest some time in the preparation to achieve the maximum result. The first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is what to wear on the day. Please check with your photographer first, but in general, 5 or more different outfits including some accessories will be needed. Make sure you only select clothes you feel really good in and things you love showing. But don’t forget to think about your dream clients either! Your clothing also needs to convey the emotions you want your ideal clients to experience when looking at your website (professional, knowledgable, fun, easy-going etc.)
What Do You Want To Show?
Next, is the question, where you want the shoot to take place? Most coaches and consultants choose to showcase where they work. So images at a desk doing online calls are popular. But a few images that show you outdoors or in a specific location, like your favourite coffee shop or sitting on a park bench, are important to create variety. Wherever you go, keep in mind that your images will affect the look of your website. So if your website should be light and airy with lots of white space, don’t stand in front of solid dark backgrounds. And if you love the warm yellow wall in your office, this could be the starting point for a colour palette that is quite unique to you!
Know Your Options
When talking to your photographer about what you have in mind, it is quite useful to know about the following approaches. Don’t worry about the specific terms, just learn about the options you have!
Constructionist portraiture involves the photographer creating a moment. They will direct you to pose in specific ways.
Candid portraiture is used to photograph people behaving naturally or doing something uninterrupted. You are aware of the presence of a photographer but may not be aware at all times of when you are being photographed. If you would like natural-looking photos of you when coaching or consulting clients, don’t forget that they need to give their consent prior to publishing!
Environmental portraiture is a combination of the first two. The photographer will provide you with some direction but photograph moments candidly as they occur. Your environment (your office, outdoors etc.) and the surrounding details (your computer, a cup of coffee, a bench etc.) are used to create a story.
Creative portraiture often refers to images that go beyond a single frame taken. Images are combined with other elements to create a composite image. This approach also applies to images that are referred to as being “photoshopped”.
Choose A Colour Palette
People generally make up their minds on how they feel about a website within the first seconds. About 60 to 90 per cent of their assessment is based on colour alone. Colours can engage your audience and showcase your individuality much quicker than your written words. So we will put some effort into creating a colour palette that will set the right tone.
First of all, remember that different colours carry different emotional symbolism.
- Red is typically associated with power, passion or energy.
- Orange often stands for joy and enthusiasm
- Yellow means happiness
- Green is often connected to growth or ambition, but also to nature and calmness
- Blue symbolises tranquillity and confidence. Lighter shades provide a sense of peace, darker shades are more confident and elegant
- Purple can be lots of things, but mainly stands for luxury or creativity
- Black is the colour of power and mystery
- White is for safety and innocence, and always helps to make airy, streamlined and bright websites
If you aim to expand your reach globally, we will need to consider that audiences around the world may perceive colours differently. Red typically symbolizes passion or power in the Western World, luck and prosperity in Asia, but is considered a colour of mourning in South Africa.
And A Colour Scheme
We will also apply one of the seven major colour schemes which are monochromatic, analogous, complementary, split complementary, triadic, square, and rectangle (or tetradic).
Monochromatic colour schemes use a single colour with varying shades and tints to produce a consistent look and feel. It often looks very clean and polished. It also allows you to easily change the darkness and lightness of your website.
Analogous colour schemes pair one main colour with the two colours directly next to it on the colour wheel. Analogous structures create a softer, less contrasting design.
A complementary colour scheme is based on the use of two colours directly across from each other on the colour wheel and relevant tints. The complementary scheme provides the greatest amount of contrast.
The square colour scheme uses four colours equidistant from each other on the colour wheel. It’s a good idea to select one dominant colour rather than trying to balance all four. Square schemes are great for creating interest across your site.
The tetradic or rectangle approach is similar but offers a more subtle approach to colour selection.Â
The 60-30-10 rule helps with a well-balanced look. The idea is to use the main colour for 60% of the design, a secondary colour for 30% and an accent colour for the last 10%. That way we give a sense of proportion to your site.
