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Photography

Overview

Illustrations and iconography are typically used to visually support content at the Office for National Statistics (ONS). We are building a photo library of appropriate images for when photography should be used instead for print and digital publications.

You can find good quality, royalty-free images on the Unsplash website (opens in a new tab) 

If you need any help with finding images, send the details of what you want and where it will be used to ons.design@ons.gov.uk (opens in a new tab) 

Warning:

Always make sure you have the right to use the image and correct licensing rights before buying or downloading any images

Choosing the right image

All images used should support the written content and not be used purely as decoration. If you will be using images in printed materials, they should be in CMYK and have a resolution of at least 300 dots per inch (DPI).

Images should:

  • feel like real-life situations with real people
  • reflect diversity by showing people from a mix of ethnic backgrounds and ages
  • include either a wide shot with lots of depth to the background, or a close point of focus with a shallow depth of field
  • tell a story relating to a theme
  • include eye contact with the camera and natural poses in portrait shots (not overly staged or posed)
  • not be overly processed with filters

When using an image, avoid:

  • overlaying text on busy areas
  • heavy drop shadows on any overlaid text
  • dark vignettes
A selection of images showing our photography style, including a mix of people of different ages, genders and ethnicities.
A selection of images showing our photography style

Examples of photography in use

Four different pages of the Data Science Campus brochure, including photographs of colleagues working together in an office environment.
Photography within a Data Science Campus brochure
An example of the circles concept used to frame a photograph in an ONS brochure
Photography used within recruitment materials
Our welcome booklet, including solid circles to highlight text and circular photographs for decoration.
Photography in our welcome booklet
A mock-up of the inside page of a booklet, with a black and white photo of Sir David Norgrove in the bottom left corner.
Leadership photography in the Annual Report

Help improve this page

Let us know how we could improve this page, or share your user research findings. Discuss this page on GitHub (opens in a new tab) 

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