Documenting the design process

Photography is all about light. No light — no photo. Try to start noticing the light around you. How it falls on the person across from you, the way it reflects off the water … These are things that can either help or ruin your picture.

Do you have a lamp near by? If so, it probably casts a yellow light, but if you look outside it’s a more of a blue light. Having a lot of different coloured light in a picture usually means a lot of extra post-work. If the natural light is ok, turn off all the other lights.

The sun is not your friend. In general direct sunlight makes for very hard-contrast, rough pictures. If you have to take pictures outside, try to do it in the shade, or if you can plan, do it around the golden hour (those hours of soft light after dawn and before dusk). This will make for a way nicer softer light.

The absent of light can focus your picture.

There is usually light around even if you don’t think so. Don’t always rely on the flash, use the existing light instead. You might be surprised by the nice effect it can create.

I’m going to go through 6 simple composition rules. There are plenty of other ones, but if you follow these, there’s a big chance that your picture will look a little bit nicer. (Unfortunately there won’t be that many work pictures because of the NDA:s)

This is one the most classic composition rules. The idea here is to divide the image into thirds, then you place the important element(s) on one or multiple of these lines. This is a very well used method because the human eye is automatically drawn these points.

If you feel like you need help with this, most cameras even have a rule of third setting to help guide the users. This could be helpful in the beginning, but once you’ve taken a couple of pictures you will do it automatically.

Symmetrical photos stand out because humans are drawn to visually harmonious photos. To make this work you want to create an almost perfectly symmetrical picture. This will make the viewer want o look at the picture longer, trying to understand the patterns of it.

You can use symmetry by placing your elements in a symmetrical environment or place your element in the middle and work your way out.

Framing is when you use the environment to frame the important element(s) of the picture. This can be obvious frames, like windows and arches, or it can be elements that are less obvious like branches and people.

There will be plenty of opportunities to use framing. For workshops you can use all the people and in interviews and testing session doors and windows are easy targets.

Here you use lines that catch the viewer’s eyes and help guide them to the important element(s) of the picture. This can be physical lines or any elements that naturally draws your eye.

It’s hard to give very tangible examples of leading lines in the settings you will be working in since it’s such an environment dependent composition. Just look around when you work and you will find things that you can use.

Photographs are 2D by nature, using elements at different depths in your image will help it feel more alive.

In a work setting, this can be used to show multiple groups working at different workshop stations or to show the the size of your studio with people working in different places. But you can also use the technique by putting an interviewer in the foreground to show that it’s an interviewing session.

To create focus you isolate the element(s) with a shallow depth of field. The blurry background helps the viewer find the focus point. Another way to create the effect is to use space around the element(s)

This is a particularly useful technique for shooting portraits, but can also be used, to show that important elements in your session, like post-it or to highlight an interaction in a user testing. I tend to use this for close-ups in cases where your subject has to be anonymous.

The most common mistake most designers and design-researchers do when taking picture, is to not prepare. They don’t get familiarised with the camera or don’t create a check-list for what pictures they need.

Learn how the camera works and prepare what photos you need!

I don’t know how many times I’ve put together client presentation, realising that all the pictures from the workshop or the user-testing session looks exactly the same. When you do a job you need to be sure that you come back with a variety of images. Try to create a story with your photos. Have a look at World Press Photo, you can find some amazing stories there that might inspire you.

It’s easy to say that everyone will take pictures during a workshop, but this will, 9 times out of 10, lead to crappy pictures.

Have one person in charge, to keep the check-list (above) in mind.

Colleagues tell me they don’t want to get close to people because of the risk of disturbing them in an interview or workshop setting. Most people you would take pictures of in a work setting aren’t used to having a camera in their face. My tip; do it like if you were training a police dog to loud noises.

Testimonial portraits are quite common in the industry, but a lot of the time they don’t look that great. And it’s understandable. The art of mastering portraits can take forever, but if you’re in a crunch time, there’s a simple way you can get a pretty nice picture in just three steps.