A picture is worth a thousand words
Build Mode™ Issue 08.2025
Hello and welcome to this issue of Build Mode, a monthly update with brand insights to help you level up your business. We have an ambitious group of professionals working in real estate, architecture, engineering, construction, marketing, design, and development. You all inspire me to keep sharing, so thank you for being here.
Haven’t subscribed yet? Consider joining us and get the next issue delivered straight to your inbox on the first of the month.When you hear ‘storytelling,’ you probably think about words — words spoken, words written. And that’s true. Stories are passed down through language. They’re what connect generations, and what carry meaning over time.
But the kind of stories I’m talking about today aren’t told with words. They’re told through images.
Through your business and through your brand, every image you put out into the world — your logo, your renderings, your photography, your color choices — carries meaning (whether you intend it to or not). Those images are delivered to the viewers and interpreted, setting expectations, shaping perception, and eliciting emotional responses about your brand.
The question is: are they saying what you want them to say?
What is visual storytelling?
Visual storytelling is the process of using your brand’s imagery to convey meaning, evoke emotion, and tell a story.
Your logo is an image. And not just any image, it’s a symbol that (hopefully) stands for something. The intentional assembly of color, shape, proportion, drawings, all taken together, convey meaning beyond the sum of its parts.
Even colors alone carry emotional associations. Blue feels dependable and loyal. Yellow is uplifting and optimistic. Red is bold and energetic. They are rooted in how people interpret what they see.
Beyond the logo and color, consider the other types of imagery we use in branding, especially within architecture and real estate brands:
Renderings
Conceptual, visual representations of buildings and spaces to help others envision your vision
Here’s the thing with renderings (and I’m going to be completely honest, because I should, for your sake)... Too often, renderings lack true intention. People and entourage are dropped in without thought, and they become distractions instead of storytellers. Instead, create a scene that reinforces the activities and atmosphere you want to communicate with intentional placement.
Another mistake? Generic signage (most common in mixed-used developments). When your rendering includes placeholder signage that says 'Signage' or 'Retail' or 'Tenant A,' you’re revealing the incompleteness of the vision. It feels unfinished and less believable. Instead, apply real-looking brands that fit your vision for the community. Make it feel like it already belongs.
Rant over. Back to the list...
Photography
Photography, and in our case, architectural photography and product photography, is the practice of capturing building and spaces in a way that aesthetically demonstrates its design intent. Wide angles, aerials, close ups... whatever type, photography should demonstrate its subject in the best way possible, since it's often used for marketing.
OK, sorry, another mini rant, and an opinion some might push back on: photography is not documentation. It’s designed. It’s curated. It’s part of the brand experience. The goal for photography, in the context of branding, is not to show everything exactly as it is. It’s to show the story you want people to feel. That might mean adding extra lighting to illuminate a dark corner during a photo shoot, or masking a reflection off a window, or hiring a group of actors, or digitally removing an exit sign, air vent, or telephone pole… distractions that inhibit the story. It’s not ‘lying’ — it’s curating a narrative.
Lifestyle Photography
Lifestyle images depict life around the product, around the environment, and are meant to inspire. These types of images give context to the environment, showing how people engage with the environment, and help people see themselves in your story, as part of your brand or community. And if lifestyle photography does show people, make sure your story is inclusive so a diverse range of people can see themselves represented.
Illustrations, patterns, icons, and graphic devices (ie. all the other ‘stuff)
From tiny icons to large-scale neighborhood maps, whether illustrated by hand, or drawn digitally with precision, graphics are the supplementary images that also carry their own tone. They extend your brand’s personality and method of communicating to play a part in creating an entire visual language.
And all of these image types exist within a bigger truth: people don’t just interpret what they see — they feel it first. And as we know, emotion drives decisions. People buy with their hearts (emotion), and justify with their heads (logic).
The identity for Cambridge Community Housing conveys dependability through color and symbolism
The rendering for an apartment at Topograph conveys a softness that feel casual, effortless, down-to-earth
This lifestyle photo by Ben Gebo in Lower Mills conveys the authentic quality of the neighborhood
Why does visual storytelling matter?
Visual storytelling matters because we live in a visual world. People process images in milliseconds. Where it might take someone 30 seconds to read your ‘about’ paragraph, an image can tell them a story in a glance.
Here’s why you should care about visual storytelling (which, I’m sure you already do, but, just as a reminder) :
Visual storytelling makes your brand resonate
In real estate and architecture, your images help people see and support your vision. If they can’t picture themselves in it, and they can’t relate to it or see the connection to themselves, they won’t buy into it.
Visual storytelling shapes emotion
Should people feel anticipation? Empowerment? Gratitude? Belonging? Inspired? Your imagery creates those emotional signals before a single word is read (and sometimes, they do more heavy lifting than words could ever do).
And probably most importantly...
Visual storytelling sells
Renderings sell visions. Photography sells spaces. Identity sells your offer. The right image compels stakeholders to back projects, investors to sign checks, residents to sign leases, clients to sign contracts. Storytelling through image is the ticket to your ideal future.
And here’s something to remember: every image is edited. It has to be. Because an image is not reality — it’s perception. It’s designed for a context: a billboard, a website banner, an Instagram post. The same story doesn’t work the same way everywhere. Context matters.
A lifestyle photo for Topograph supports the messaging and signals the expansiveness of the community
The hand-drawn illustration of Baker Chocolate Factory by Andrew DeGraff conveys history, heritage, and craft
For Hunter's near Lake Winnipesaukee, watercolor illustrations depict a sense of calm through art
What you can do right now
Now that you know what visual storytelling is, and why it matters, here’s how you can make sure your images tell the right story:
Start with intention
Before you create your next visual asset, whether a rendering, commissioned photography, or designed graphics, ask yourself: What’s the story here? What is this image meant to say? What emotion should it evoke? If you don’t define the story behind the image, you leave interpretation entirely to chance. If you’re outsourcing visual assets, be sure to communicate these intentions with your renderer, photographer, or graphic designer.
Provide creative direction
Just as you define the vision of a brand or of a project, define the creative direction for its imagery. Before the first shot is taken or first rendering produced, define the purpose, tone, subject matter, context, and distribution.
Purpose: why are we creating this image?
Tone: what’s the vibe and how do we create it through color, light, angles, and effects?
Subject matter: what’s the main thing we’re capturing?
Context: what else is part of the image (people, environments, staging)?
Distribution: where will the image be distributed (and how does the scale, framing, and details adapt to the medium)?
Include people intentionally
If you decide to include people in your product photography or lifestyle photography, their presence and activity should reinforce the experience you want others to resonate with. Where they are, what they’re doing, and how they’re interacting with each other matters. Random placement ruins the storyline.
Remove the distractions
Architects are so good at imagining future realities, and it crushes my soul to see generic signs in their beautiful renderings. When creating images, remove the placeholders so the vision feels real and complete. And if you’re styling photographs, remove the distractions and keep the focus on the details that matter. These elements, minor as they may seem, make or break the story.
Align with your brand
Images, and the stories you tell through them, are but one part within the greater context of your brand expression. Does the image reflect who you are as a brand? Does it reinforce your positioning? Zoom out, see the big picture, and understand how each image and each story plays a part.
To close this thing out...
An image is an invitation. Like the trailer of the movie, or the appetizer before a meal, it’s not the whole story, or the whole experience (and it isn't meant to be), but it should compel people to want more. Images, backed by these visual storytelling principles, will do just that. They’re the difference between someone believing in your vision, or passing it by. Make yours count.
That’s all for this edition of Build Mode! If this resonated with you and you think it might help others, feel free to forward it to a colleague. And if you want to discuss how to enhance your visual storytelling, get in touch — I’d love to hear from you.
Best.
Kenny Isidoro
See my latest on Instagram, LinkedIn, or feel free to book a call.
The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.
— Steve Jobs
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