When Images Begin to Breathe Again: Rediscovering Intention Through VISBOOM

Wiki Article

For most of my online retail experience, visual elements were just another checkbox: take pictures of product, use a neutral color background and bright lighting, repeat every week, etc. This worked for years and drove equal steady sales, good pictures of products, and a similar feed to other successful small retailers on social media. However, I started to feel disconnected. I created things every day but didn't feel alive. My business was not dead, but at the same time, it wasn't alive either. It was there, yet it didn't have a pulse.

This observation became strongest for me at the beginning of this year. I had just completed a series of product photo shoots to launch a new product line. The images all looked good as far as composition is concerned—balanced tones, clean shadows, smooth lines, symmetrical frames, and so on. However, when I placed the images together in a grid, there was a disconnection between them. The images were like a person reading a script; they read the words correctly but did not communicate any emotion with their tone of voice. I could not remember exactly when I went from creating images and visuals with passion to just making them simply because I knew how to make images that worked for marketing. I had learned to make successful visuals, but I had lost the ability to create visuals that made a statement.

At the time of this creative confusion, I started to work with VISBOOM during this time. Initially, I thought of it as a tool to make my work more efficient by allowing me to create visuals more quickly and take some of the burden of creating visuals off my shoulders. Little did I know how much I would change my entire thought process regarding images through my experience with VISBOOM. As I continued to utilize VISBOOM’s website creation and content management, I realized that VISBOOM made it possible for me to generate an unlimited number of visual images and layouts without the pressure of deadlines, expectations from peers, or algorithms determining my timing or order of creation. VISBOOM gave me a place to begin exploring my brand and the feelings of emotion I had lost connection with.

A particularly significant image had been the catalyst for a change within me. A product photograph that I had taken months before and had always found bland, even though it was technically correct. I had uploaded it to VISBOOM for fun, with no expectations. I found that as I made changes to the image, whether those changes were related to mood, light, or composition, I began responding to the photo in an emotional way rather than a technical one. I was now more concerned about whether the image felt warm, honest, and human, and far less concerned about whether the shadows were perfectly executed. For the first time in a long time, I had created an image based on my own instincts rather than following a set of defined steps.

VISBOOM, this one photograph and my new understanding of the creative process, allowed me to look back into older photographs and not to modify them, but rather to listen to them. Through VISBOOM, I was able to explore the countless emotions/moods that photographs evoke without needing to set up a camera or take the time to reset up my studio. I found it reminiscent of sketching; it was free and it was intuitive. It allowed me experimentation and to experience something I had completely forgotten as an option due to e-commerce.

I learned that how I thought about the Brand identity changed due to this emotional shift. I always thought that branding was about consistency of imagery (the backgrounds, colours and overall style). The reality is that emotional consistency is actually what drives connection. As I started to create images from a feeling-based perspective, the increased connection with my audience became apparent. Customers stopped commenting on technical aspects (lighting and background) of my images, and started sharing personal stories.

For example, one person shared the memory of eating bread with jam on a Saturday morning with her mother, while another person shared that one of the images reminded her of the sunlight shining through the window in her childhood living room. It became clear to me that these stories weren’t about the product – they were about the feeling that the image created. This was my epiphany – that my Brand is not simply about showcasing objects, but rather creating entry points to a deeper emotional connection.

Before working with VISBOOM, I lived hurriedly through my brand, rather than experiencing things at an enjoyable pace. Through my experience, I have learned to work more slowly and intentionally when creating visual content. As a result, I have come to appreciate how much of a disconnection I felt for the entirety of the previous months leading up to this point I was creating visuals at a rapid pace, barely making ends meet in terms of what was intended by my visual and my brand. The creation of each visual had become nothing more than a task, not an interaction among myself, my brand and the end customers who will eventually use these products.

Over the months with VISBOOM, I have seen the brand evolve in many unexpected ways, including how the visuals now serve a purpose and convey a feeling or an emotion that was absent prior to our working relationship, instead of serving only as a decorative piece associated with my online shop. The visuals now express and represent the brand's purpose, instead of merely displaying what the product looks like, and as a result, I once again feel the connection to my brand.

My brand voice isn’t the result of VISBOOM but the ability to listen to my brand voice. VISBOOM lets me create based on my truth rather than an obligation: therefore, it makes my brand feel alive again. The vision of my brand is no longer a blur; it's a clear illustration of emotion rather than perfection.

A brand is successful, not based on how perfect its visuals are but how they make someone feel deeply. For the first time in a long time, my visuals are speaking clearly for themselves.