Make Headshots Better

Some businesses let employees submit their own headshots for the company website. They do this for multiple reasons. One reason is because their employees are geographically separated and it’s too expensive to bring them together for a single photographer. Another reason is that employees spend a lot of time managing their personal brands on social media and, increasingly, want to do the same at work. The business figures, if I let my employees choose their own photos, I won’t hear any complaints. This approach works if you have a skilled graphic designer who knows how to give mismatched headshots a consistent look and feel.  It’s not only pleasing to the eye, but also makes your business look more professional and organized.  The designer can’t change the style or light source of the photos but he or she can correct inconsistent color and switch backgrounds.

This advertisement for NIH's All of Us Research Program is a good example. The random headshots look better together because the designer put all of them on white backgrounds, turned them black and white, cropped them into squares and covered them with transparent pastel color blocks.