Case Study: Simple Design Works Hereford

Commercial Photography and Video Brief

Client: Simple Design Works, Hereford

Location: Hereford, United Kingdom

The brief from Simple Design Works was to produce a series of photos and a video for their new website. A comprehensive brief was provided and the requirements were clear (it was an EXCELLENT brief actually, very detailed!).

Firstly, I’d come in for half a day to produce headshots for the entire team and some of their associates. They were keen to have headshots they would all love and were happy to give me the extra time it takes to do this. More on this process below.

Secondly, there were a series of photos needed of people at work. Some of these at their desks, others during meetings and brainstorming sessions.

A new team photo was also required and the brief was for something ‘different’. We had a great time producing this at the restaurant downstairs from the offices – again, see below for more on this.

Finally, we’d produce a homepage video for their new website.

The Hereford Office

Simple Design Works recently moved into a smart new office in Aubrey Street, Hereford, above the (equally smart) restaurant The Bookshop.

Although I’ll happily take photos in any setting and believe I can get the best from that environment, it’s always nice when you have such a good looking background to work with! Being a design agency, aesthetics are important and the office demonstrates this with clean white walls, lovely furniture and accent walls of exposed brickwork.

The guys are, quite rightly, proud of their offices and wanted to show them off in their website photography.

Session 1 – Headshots

As mentioned, the brief was to create headshots for everyone that they’d be proud to display on the website and social media profiles.

I was really happy to hear this because I think a poor headshot or profile picture is a huge wasted opportunity. We often ‘meet’ people for the first time online – via our ‘about us’ pages on our website or on social media.

Although I don’t condone anyone to judge a book by it’s cover, having a poor profile picture here gives the wrong impression. Having a professional headshot for your profile picture shows you care about your work. It shows you could be bothered to make the effort to make things look the best they can. And in my opinion, it gives more confidence to a prospective client that you’ll take care in the work you do for them.

So how do we achieve headshots that everyone likes? Simply by taking the time to get it right. Many businesses understandably want to keep their costs down, but investing a little more here could make a huge difference in the long run.

I set up at the Hereford offices in one of the rooms with the most space and a large white wall. My lighting was set up to achieve the look I was after and then my camera was tethered to my laptop. This means each photo could be reviewed on instantly. I could show everyone how they were looking and get feedback on what they liked or disliked, making adjustments to lighting and posing, as necessary.

The brief was to create two shots per person – one ‘conventional’ look for the main profile picture and a second ‘fun’ look for when website visitors roll over the image to find out more about each person.

The results were great and I’m pleased to say everyone was happy with their headshot!

Session 2 – Office and Team Photo

When populating a website with photography, you’ll need photos for the different pages, banner images, section links etc. The brief provided by Simple Design Works considered all of these and detailed the type of photo they needed for each area of the website, with example photos included.

The main office shot was first and I knew from my meetings with them which angle we’d shoot that shot from. Again, I shot this one tethered to the laptop so they could see how it was looking as we went along.

Lighting is always crucial and although there was some nice natural light coming in from the windows, it needed a slight ‘boost’ by bouncing a speedlight (flash) from the ceiling near the windows to imitate extra daylight.

We packed in a few details to make the office look even better in the photo – moving plants and adjusting a few things so it all came together.

Next were a number of photos to be used on the various web pages. Again, the guys had planned well and had a few set-ups in mind for the shots.

These would show some of their capability and bring in the human aspect as much as possible. Within any type of commercial and industrial photography, it’s always great to show your people. After all, most buying decisions are made on whether the buyer likes the person or people they’re buying from.

The team photo was next on the list. The guys at Simple Design Works wanted something ‘different’. Not just your average line up of people, but something with some character and personality.

We discussed various locations and ideas for the team shot and the guys had found some ideas they liked.

One of the great things about the Simple Design Works office is it’s location. They just happen to be above one of the best restaurants in Hereford – The Bookshop. As such, they have a close relationship with they guys there and we considered whether we might be able to do the team shot down there.

As it happened, I’d already done a couple of shoots in The Bookshop, so I knew the layout quite well. We went and scoped it out and found the ideal location for this shot.

I had an idea to do a ‘last supper’ themed photo here. It’s something I’d seen one of my mentors, Gina Milicia, doing. And I really like the effect.

We’d be allowed in to move everything around and make room for the shot after hours, which was super-generous of them. To achieve the ‘natural light’ look I was after, I’d need to light this shot with studio lights due to the time of day (and time of year).

I went on ahead to get set up with my assistant, so that when we brought the guys in, they didn’t have to wait around for too long. Once ready we called them down and got everyone in place. I gave them each something to focus on and talk about to make the shot look right – while Kristo sat in the middle and stared me down!

I took a lot of shots and was able to pick the best parts from each one to blend together in Photoshop afterwards.

The Homepage Video

The final piece of content for the new website would be the homepage video. Our video productions are fully planned and scripted after a detailed discussion with the client.

The idea with this one would be to show the capabilities of the company, while following through the different processes and communicating what a fun and friendly bunch they are (which was easy, because they are!).

On the day of the video shoot, we had our shot list ready to go. Working through each shot in turn, the guys had everything ready for us ahead of time.

The opening shot would have the company logo (a lightbulb) on a cup of coffee – using cocoa powder sprinkled through a stencil. There were also 3D prints in progress for us to film, drawings on walls, sketches in progress – it was great.

For one of the final shots, we’d be showing a water bottle designed by the team, being dropped into an e-commerce website. To make the final shot look absolutely slick, I took the bottle back to the studio and photographed it separately. It’s a stunning product and I couldn’t resist having a bit of a play with the product photography set up to produce this:

After a long and fun day filming, we had everything we needed, so it was back to base for the edit.

Simple Design Works Hereford Homepage Promo Video

Your Commerical or Industrial Photography and Video Shoot

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