Photography

Photography is how we frame DevSecOps in the real world. It is a useful tool for brand storytelling that allows users to see our product in action. It is important to keep visual consistency among all images, whether selecting stock photography or curating photos in-house. Images should be crisp with true-to-life colors and a natural editing style.

Keep the following parameters in mind when selecting, creating, and using photos for our brand:

Do:

• Use photos that reflect the natural world we live in and are also relevant (directly or metaphorically) to the content. Photos that feature real objects and landscapes are easier to recognize and relate to.
• When featuring subjects, include people from diverse backgrounds, ages, body types, races, and genders.
• Be mindful of our broad audience and keep images appropriate.
• Find photos that feel authentic and natural. This can be tricky with stock photography, but we want to capture people in a positive way.
• Use photos that feature, or work nicely with, our brand colors to reinforce our brand identity. The Brand Design team can edit a photo, if needed, to add or alter colors.

Don't:

• Don’t use photos that are heavily edited or have unnatural hues: example.
• Don’t use photos that have been generated by AI (including on Adobe Stock); these can pose Legal implications and have visual inaccuracies that are best avoided: example.
• Don’t use photos that feel too cinematic or fantasy-like: example.
• Don’t use photos that feature people working or collaborating in ways that feel irrelevant to our team members and customers: example.
• Don’t use photos that feel overly dramatic or are obvious the people are “acting”: example.

Customer and contributor portraits

Customers and contributors are our heroes, so their portraits should feel heroic. We capture this by photographing people at eye-level on a neutral background with soft, natural lighting. A shallow depth of field minimizes background distractions and draws the viewer’s attention to the person.

Metaphors

Metaphorical photography allows us to convey intricate ideas in an abstract way. These photos are primarily shot top-down, with a focus on texture, patterns, or paths. The imagery should bring feelings of innovation, sustainability, positivity, and/or repetition. Images featuring infrastructure, people, nature, and structural repetition are excellent starting points.

Collaboration

Collaboration is a common theme at GitLab, as it highlights our mission that everyone can contribute. Capture collaborative scenes top-down or over a subject’s shoulder to show their working environment in a positive light. Subjects should be using their devices in a natural, candid way to show GitLab and DevSecOps as a normal part of everyday life. This technique draws attention to the working environment, rather than to the individual.

Design applications

Graphic overlays

In moderation, graphics and icons can overlay a photo to better merge the image into the design. Typically the graphic elements are used to convey movement and speed, and they complement the subject matter in the photo. Minimal detail should be used to achieve this effect.

Text overlays

Occasionally, text can be used over photography when the image is suitable for legibility. Text should either be white or charcoal, whichever creates better contrast against the background. To ensure readability, it is best to place the text over the portion of the image that contains the least details. Ideally, this area would be blurred, contain minimal detail, and a single color behind the text. To reduce noise, do not pair graphic overlays with text on a single image.

Contained crop

Images can be contained within shapes. This works well when complemented with the other graphical elements in the design. When containing a headshot in a shape, circles and curved containers from our core elements work best.

Masked crop

Objects within an image can be masked to create an asymmetrical crop. Doing so can draw focus to certain elements of the photo to aid in storytelling. Either people or technology are subjects that work well to isolate from the background with this type of crop. This crop works well in larger spaces, such as an ebook or slide deck, because it allows the image to feel dynamic with the content and layout.