Design-it-Yourself Graphic Workshop

PART 1: STEP-BY-STEP DESIGN

STEP 10

Illustrate the

Message

Pictures speak louder than words, and

illustrations speak louder than pictures. Fill

your newsletter with illustrations—not

decorations, but photographs, artwork, and

diagrams that clarify your message and

transmit your publication’s style.

With the advent of digital cameras

and powerful editing software, perhaps the

easiest way to illustrate your publication is to

shoot custom photographs. Remember,

illustrations are more than pictures; they are

pictures that, ideally, make your message

more understandable. A head-and-

shoulders photograph of a person works,

but a shot of the same person in the place

your article describes works better.

Advertising pioneer David Ogilvy once

said, “The kind of photographs which work

hardest are those which arouse the reader’s

curiosity. He glances at the photograph and

says to himself, ‘What goes on here?’ Then he

reads your story to find out.” You can

compose illustrative photographs, too.

Instead of a child holding a doll to

illustrate child abuse, show the child

standing in the shadow of an adult.

Instead of a head-and-shoulders shot of

the newly appointed coach, pose her

juggling a volleyball, basketball, and

baseball. Rather than a straight, smile-for-

the-camera shot of accountants around a

meeting table, pose them in front of a

vault door.

If you don’t want to shoot photo-

graphs yourself but you need a custom-

ized shot, consider hiring a photographer

to shoot them for you. Some photogra-

phers charge an hourly rate, and some

charge by the project. Be sure to under-

stand who owns the rights to the speci-

fied and future use of the photographs

you commission. Some photographers

will assign all rights to you, others want to

retain them, but most will negotiate.

If you don’t have the time

for shooting your own photographs, there

are plenty of places to acquire stock and

royalty-free photographs. Generally

speaking, stock photographs are licensed

for specific uses. The license is based on

criteria such as the type of publication it

appears in and the number of copies that

are printed. On the other hand, once you

pay the license fee for a royalty-free

photograph, you can use it just about any

way and anywhere you want.

In either case, stock or royalty-free

images, you only license the use of the

image, you do not own the copyright. Be

sure to read the fine print of any license

agreement so there are no surprises after

you have your newsletter printed.

There are many excellent sources of

stock and royalty-free photographs on the

World Wide Web. Some examples include

www.corbis.com, www.creatas.com,

www.eyewire.com, www.gettyworks.com,

and www.tonystone.com.

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