Basic elements
Phonak images: What they should express
The Phonak visual world (images) is a visual representation of our brand essence “life is on” and is based on the following principles:
Premium craft & technology
- High-end materials, precise and beautiful details, high-end lighting
- Product imagery that feels premium, refined and intentional
Lifestyle – human & relatable
- Real emotions, real connections, real life
- Authentic moments, confidence and belonging.
- Diversity of people
Less is more – Aesthetic
- Clean compositions with space to breathe
- Simple, intentional framing
- Visual confidence without clutter
Sophisticated mood & contrast
- Balanced darks and brights
- Elegant contrasts and soft gradients
- A polished, contemporary tone that signals advanced technology
Phonak images: principles
The Phonak visual world (images) is a visual representation of our brand essence “life is on” and is based on the following principles:
- Show moments of connection, emotions, and confidence
- Looking in at an authentic moment
- Focus on close-ups and details showing emotions by zooming in the situation
- Never posed, staged or looking at the camera or forced
- Natural to warm spectrum but light colors
- Catching light and dark: well-balanced ratio of light and dark tints.
Note: This page informs you about the look and feel of Phonak images. If you are preparing a photo/film shoot, please refer to the shoot guidelines and to the technical requirements for images. If you have to amend existing images you might find the image processing details below helpful.
Little helpers
Cheat sheet
How to easily find on-brand lifestyle images and videos on Shutterstock.
Image style guide
• How to crop images to tell a story
• How to do color correction to be “on-brand”
• Three steps to the perfect image
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GenAI images
Before using images generated or edited with AI in tools, it is essential that you first familiarize yourself with the topic and the legal pitfalls of generative AI images.
Please consult the relevant chapter Generative AI (GenAI) here
People visuals
While selecting images that are relevant to content may be subjective when needing general images, it is crucial that some aspects of the content are considered when needing to be specific:
- Show moments of connection, emotions, and confidence
- Looking in at an authentic moment
- Focus on close-ups and details
- Never posed, staged, looking at the camera or forced
- Catching light and dark
- Diversity of people
- Natural to warm but light colors
Product visuals
Every picture should tell a story. Regardless of whether it is a product or people, it is important to ensure that the images are selected in such a way that they provide sufficient background to allow cropping for the various formats and dimensions.
- Focus on design & aesthetics
- Showcase high end materials, precise, beautiful and eye-catching details.
- Showcase precision Swiss-engineering
- Focus on lighting & shadowing
- Heroe the features & products
- Visualizing the invisible
Don'ts
- don’t use cartoons, funny illustrations,
- staged, happy people,
- images with wrong lighting or tonality
Color exclusions
The following colors may not be used on large surfaces or in eye-catching props (E.g. primary clothing, eye-catching props or accessories) because they are primary colors of our competitors:
- Never use pink and/or magenta
- Never use yellow
- Never use red
Stock images
Overall it is recommended to use official images provided by HQ. Whenever you need to buy additional imagery, please ensure to comply with the following principles:
- Our preferred supplier is Shutterstock.com where we have corporate rates and negotiated license rights that allow us to use the purchased images/videos across Sonova.
- If you are not using images from Shutterstock.com you need to make sure that the necessary license/buy-out rights are applied (see details below)
- Always double check the look & feel by comparing it to the mood board and contact the brand team
- Generally prefer Uni color garment – or light patterns. Avoid nervous patterns, flowers and other organic shapes, fancy colors
- Please note: all stock images have to be approved by the Phonak Brand Team before they are purchased!
Licensing
In general, the following conditions apply:
The assets must include:
- for purely digital use: global license without time restrictions and for all Sonova brands.
- for use in all media: globallicense without time restriction for all Sonova brands.
- All purchases must be traceable. Be sure to archive the corresponding license agreements and proof of payment!
- The cost center is always responsible for any claims arising from license violations.