Imagery
We use photography sparingly — always in service of a human moment, never as decoration. When we do use it, the subject is always real, and the mood is always calm.
Unposed, natural-lit, human
Soft window light, shallow depth, muted color. The person in frame is usually mid-task — working, reading, holding a phone — not modeling.
Room to breathe
Crop for negative space, not for subject. At least a third of the frame is air — we overlay text and UI into that space.
Mute the saturation, warm the white
Every photo gets the same light grade before publishing: saturation −12, warmth +4, contrast curve raised in the mid-tones. It's what gives a page of photos a unified mood.
When to use imagery (and when not to)
Marketing hero, customer story, onboarding first screen.
Places where a human face earns the space.
Combine with illustration only when the photo provides the mood and the illo carries the concept.
Photo behind, illustration on top. Never side-by-side at equal weight.
Use stock imagery of diverse-team-at-whiteboard.
Nothing is less trustworthy than that photo. We'd rather show nothing.
Place imagery in product chrome, dashboards, or utility surfaces.
Imagery is a brand tool — product stays quiet.