This was my response to a question on Alignable: “Do You Feel Headshots Are a Great Marketing Tool for Your Business?“
Yep. (Though framing the question as “a Great Marketing Tool” kinda tips your hand.) Okay, so we’re all agreed that pictures are better than not-pictures.
As a ‘user experience’ practitioner, I’ve long been and advocate for ‘putting a face on it’. I’m not alone in that belief. It’s been well-tested. It’s generally accepted as a given. It’s valid.
Here are a couple of observations from the interactive/social media design perspective:
The Face of Service
In 2006 I redesigned the corporate website for the NIA Group . Since they were a face-to-face service-based agency, I recommended that they capture and use executive portraits as a part of the new look. I contracted with local (he’s on Alignable) professional Rick Daccardi Photos to do the work
Rick produced excellent results shooting onsite quickly and with little fuss. Although NIA stakeholders had been skeptical initially, they were delighted with the value of their investment. I later did a photo-service website for Rick. Navigate to the “Corporate” section to see for yourself.
PS: It’s no surprise that Rick’s primary focus is fashion photography. He’s just got a knack.
The ‘Who We Are’ design pattern
In blog article “Non-Profit Site Redesign” I lay out some of the common design patterns that you want to deal with. The article focuses specifically on non-profit/do-good agencies, but the who-we-are pattern is common to virtually all sites.
Scroll down to the “Who: Staff DrillDown” section (It’s about halfway down the article) for a little explanation and advocacy.
Interactive Flow
Nobody disputes that visuals are eye-catching – and well-executed images are dandy. But – if that’s all there is – then why not just buy a video ad? (BTW: as an ex-video guy myself, I don’t suggest that you *not* use other media).
But another real value of a great portrait of a real person is to *make the connection* – not only an impression on your audience, but also functional rubber-meets-the-road with your service. Notice that the “who we are” pattern (above) makes your service real. These real, accessible people do real things.
It’s Traction to Action
“Putting a face on it” is a primary differentiator for you and your business in The Age of impersonal Bots.
“Who we are” is a fundamental point of connection. Do it well.
© The Communication Studio LLC
the Craft 
Great advice, John.
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Reblogged this on BrewNSpew and commented:
Sharing useful advice by fellow blogger, John.
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Hey John,
I came by way of Eugenia’s re-blog.
Thank you for an interesting post…I am left thoughtfully reflecting on my Gravatar and WP profile, which is faceless. I sell no service nor have to gain public trust per se, I write poetry, narrative poetry, and enjoy image creation, presenting my wares on a Blog. I offer no service or business. I was curious as to your thoughts on my Gravatar design and if you felt it could be improved upon by reveal?
As an aside…regards your profile John…’workflow-intensive challenges’. I recall from my school days (35 years ago) the first Geography lesson I attended. We were in the early throws of learning settlement distribution, I think, and as part of this introduction we conducted a time and motion study at home whilst making a cup of tea. The idea being to ultimately make the operation more efficient, effective and fluid. I’ve never forgotten that lesson in efficiency and have tried to apply it readily to many facets of my life. It seems experience builds wisdom even for tea-making. I had not stopped to think how such efficiencies are reached by design with the flow of information. Your post has therefore been most rewarding John, thank you, and expanded my thinking, which I am grateful for. (I wish you’d come and assist my employer with meeting their workflow challenges lol 🙂 )
Best wishes with your endeavours. Have a fruitful week,
Take care of one and all
Namaste 🙂
DN
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Hello Derwin- and thanks for the kind words
I apologize for not responding earlier. I pride myself on responding appropriately to *real* communication, but simply wasn’t aware of your message until now.
Love your anecdote about examining the “process” of tea-making. Mindfulness has value unto itself.
Here’s an insight from a similar exercise earlier in my education:
The challenge was to both analyze and describe directions for making breakfast in the morning when you wake up. As the instructor pointed out later, the first step (which all of us missed) was … to get out of bed. Context. Acknowledge your assumptions.
If you’d like to communicate directly, I’m at jcvaughan@jcvtcs.com
Send a link to your Gravatar image and tell your boss that I do remote work rather successfully.
— John
PS: Not to be naggy, but they’re the “throes of learning”
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Hey John,
Thank you for your reply. It’s good to hear back from you.
It seems we share commonality regarding elements of our education: your story a step up on mine, I think, as it involved providing directions, mine was merely a kitchen plan with vectors.. I also suspect that I too would have forgotten directive one: get out of bed…my excuse of course being that my abode is sufficiently small to mange all activities from my bed 😉
Acknowledge your assumptions. Thank you, I think this was the acknowledgement I may have been seeking when I commented. Mirrors are curious things 🙂
My quip regards my employer is a personal reflection only. However, I imagine most business could be improved upon with better management of work flow and information.
I’ve taken note of your email John, thank you. In return, my email is Dewin.Nefol@gmail.com
Enjoy the latter part of the week and the forthcoming weekend. Best wishes.
Namaste 🙂
DN
P.S: Not to be naggy but it’s Dewin not Derwin 😉 However, I enjoy the meaning of the name Derwin (Gifted friend) just as much as I do the meaning of my Welsh name Dewin Nefol (Celestial Wizard) 🙂
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