Expression · Section 08
Imagery and human expression
Documentary imagery, annotated artifacts, prototypes in place and the brand’s controlled playfulness.
Three modes
Show real work moving from decision, to artifact, to a system running in its environment.
01
Decisions in progress
- Subject
- Teams reviewing systems, risks, diagrams or prototypes
- Crop
- Tight and off-centre; subjects may run out of frame
- Framing
- Eye level or slightly above, shot into the work
- Treatment
- Full colour, available light, no filter or duotone
02
Annotated artifacts
- Subject
- Architecture diagrams, working notes, marked-up plans, prototype screens
- Crop
- Square to the artifact, marks legible
- Framing
- Overhead or straight on
- Treatment
- Full colour, marks never blurred for effect
03
Prototypes in place
- Subject
- Technology in a real operational environment
- Crop
- Wide enough to show the environment
- Framing
- Over the shoulder, screens photographed not composited
- Treatment
- Full colour, screen legible
Usage rules
Documentation, permissions and descriptive accuracy matter as much as visual treatment.
- 01Type sits beside a photograph or on a flat field below it, never over it. The monochrome lockup may sit on a dark, quiet corner.
- 02Sequence in threes: a decision, the artifact it produced, the system running.
- 03Captions state what is happening and when. They do not interpret.
- 04Every image carries a signed release covering the client, the site and any visible screen content.
- 05Alt text describes the work being done, not the mood: 'Two engineers marking up a retrieval architecture on a whiteboard', not 'Collaborative team meeting'.
- 06Low light is corrected for exposure only. High-contrast scenes keep the highlight, never the crushed shadow.
Never use
Avoid visual shorthand that makes complex technology generic or falsely documentary.
- Glowing orbs, neural meshes, circuit boards, robots, particle fields
- Stock imagery of any kind
- Generated imagery presented as documentation of real work
- Colour fields laid over a face
- Isolated device mockups floating on a gradient
Layers of play
Warmth comes from human evidence and occasional working marks, not a layer of visual noise.
ContinuousHuman imageryWarmth is carried by the photography, not by ornament.
RecurringMarginal working notesA short annotation in the margin, set in Instrument Sans 13px with a 1px Sapphire 300 leader. It records a real decision or caveat.
RecurringConstruction marksA cropped cube plane or a 1px alignment mark bleeding off an edge, at 8% of the ground. Never more than one per spread.
RareCube assemblyThe flagship moment. Once per artifact, on entry, then still.