Visual Punctuation In The Wild
What exactly do I mean by visual punctuation?
Here is an example in action.
The other day, I was chatting with a close friend who I’ve known since high school and he was asking me some questions related to my work.
One of those questions related to the concept of visual punctuation.
He said he never heard this phrase before, and had no idea what I meant by that. Rather than simply explaining it to him, I showed him what it means with a practical example.
On the spot, I made up a quick, two-sentence paragraph that represents a short, uplifting social media post:
To live in your purpose is a gift. It affords you the opportunity to wake up every morning and know that you are able to show up in the world exactly the way you want.
Although a short and sweet post, the sentiment is powerful - gratitude, joy and fulfillment.
The goal of visual punctuation, I explained, is to identify a photo that encapsulates that sentiment through facial expression, lighting, composition and body posture.
I then dug into a recent client’s image content portfolio and pulled out three images to illustrate the point:
With this type of a statement, my first inclination is to choose a portrait that has minimal activity going in in the frame in order to let the audience drink in the sentiment of the words.
While the first photo (from left to right) displays minimal activity, the sentiment taken away from this photo is more about focus and determination, rather than joy, fulfillment and gratitude.
To some, she might actually come off as angry. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad photo, it just doesn’t visually punctuate the sentiment of this particular story.
We’ll save this shot for a more appropriate use.
Now, the second photo is a much more compelling option.
She’s clearly reflecting to herself, which works well with the copy. The black and white tone also plays well with this type of statement since desaturated images draw the viewer’s attention to the subject’s facial expression.
But that’s where there’s a sticking point.
You see, this photo is close, but doesn’t quite work simply because there is no hint of joy in her expression. In order to truly visually punctuate the statement, we need to see more joy in her face. This photo would be better suited for a story that revolves around a falling down, but getting back up again narrative.
And then we have the third image - the one with the magical smile, :)
I explained to my friend that this photo is the winner of the bunch because it effectively pulls together several elements - candidness, relaxed body language, smile, reflection - to make it feel like a seamless marriage to the two-sentence statement it visually punctuates.
The sentiment of this image reads as joy, gratitude and fulfillment. It’s bright and vivid, which compliments the tone of the message, as well.
After going through that short tutorial, my friend said that he now understood the importance of nuance in photos and what visual punctuation looks like.
And hopefully, so do you, :)
Mastering the art of visual punctuation is an essential process that helps get the attention of those you serve. It helps to create clear, purposeful and persuasive messaging. If you’re curious to learn more about it, or for more insights on all things persuasive visual storytelling, I invite you to sign up for my blog. There’s a lot of magic shared there, :)