Good Brand Shows Up Before the Imagery

A lot of digital agencies say they understand brand. A quick test reveals whether that’s actually true. If you strip the imagery out of a website and replace it with gray boxes, what’s left should still feel unmistakably like the brand.

Digital agencies love to say they understand brand. In reality, many don’t. A simple rule of thumb when vetting an agency’s work: imagine every image on a site they designed is replaced with a gray box. No photography. No art direction. No lifestyle shots doing the heavy lifting. Does the site still feel like the brand? Do the colors, layouts, typography, motion, and interactions feel specific and intentional? Or does it suddenly feel interchangeable with a hundred other sites?

In today’s landscape, a website can’t rely solely on imagery to communicate identity. High-end photography and art direction are powerful, but they’re also expensive and often added late in the process. If the brand disappears the moment imagery is removed, the foundation was never strong to begin with. A well-branded website should feel unmistakably like the brand even before imagery is dropped in. That comes from texture, color systems, typography with personality, branded iconography, thoughtful motion, subtle animations, and transitions that express tone and attitude. These are the elements that create memory and differentiation.

The strongest brands convey who they are structurally. Not just visually. Otherwise, what’s the difference between your site and a polished out-of-the-box Shopify template? Websites shouldn’t be white pages with boxes waiting to be filled. They should embody the spirit of the brand from the first load, with or without the images.