06 — Imagery

Quality and relevance, always.

The only test that matters for any image is whether it is high quality and relevant to the message. Where it came from is not the test.

The principle

The master brand has one rule for imagery: it must be high quality and relevant to the message. Origin is not the criterion. An image from a stock library is as valid as a commissioned photograph if it is genuinely relevant and genuinely high quality. An owned photograph that is blurry, staged badly, or disconnected from the message fails — regardless of its provenance.

Stock photography is permitted at master-brand level. Provenance is not the filter. Quality and relevance are.

Scope

The master-brand rule — stock permitted; quality and relevance required — is the baseline for all work under the brand: campaigns, subsidiaries, and partner surfaces alike.

Specific campaigns or subsidiaries may apply a stricter provenance rule — for example, a campaign that requires real installation photography only. That stricter rule belongs to the campaign or subsidiary that sets it. It does not flow back to the master brand. The master brand does not inherit a campaign’s restrictions.

Photography style is a permitted variable within the shared system. Subsidiaries may establish their own photographic voice — subject matter, mood, treatment — within the master-brand quality-and-relevance principle.

For the full three-layer model, see Subsidiaries.

Selection criteria

Four criteria govern image selection. All four must be satisfied — they are not traded against one another.

  • Relevance

    Does the image directly support the message? Decorative fill with no connection to what is being communicated is a relevance failure — regardless of technical quality or origin.

  • Quality

    Is it fit for the intended format? Resolution, composition, and lighting must meet the demands of the surface — print, screen, or out-of-home. Technically deficient images undermine the brand regardless of subject matter.

  • Credibility

    Does it accurately represent the subject? An image that implies a context, outcome, or standard it cannot support is a credibility failure.

  • Local resonance

    Where context matters, does it reflect the market it addresses? CBC EMEA operates primarily in Nigeria. “EMEA” names the brand, not a geographic territory. Where a message draws meaning from local context — people, settings, situations — imagery must reflect that. Generic global stock that erases Nigerian context fails on relevance and credibility, not provenance.

Do / Don’t

▲ Do
  • Relevant — directly supports the message
  • High quality — resolution, composition, and lighting fit for the format
  • Credible — accurately represents the subject and context
  • Locally resonant where the message calls for it
▼ Don’t
  • Irrelevant — decoration with no connection to the message
  • Low quality — blurry, low-resolution, or amateurish execution
  • Misleading — misrepresents the subject, context, or outcome
  • Generic cliché that erases local context — a relevance failure, not a provenance failure

Stock is not in the Don’t column. The failures above are quality, relevance, and credibility failures — not provenance failures. A well-chosen stock image passes; an owned photograph used as decoration fails.

Relevance

▲ Do

Directly tied to the message — the image earns its place.

▼ Don’t

Fills space without supporting the message. The failure is relevance — not provenance.

Local resonance

▲ Do

Reflects Nigerian market context — people, settings, and situations that give the message its meaning.

▼ Don’t

Impersonal and contextually absent. A credibility and relevance failure — not a provenance failure.

Alt text & accessibility

Every meaningful image requires a descriptive alt attribute. The alt text should convey what the image communicates in context — not describe the file, not list its composition, and not repeat surrounding copy.

  • Informative

    Describe what the image contributes to the page — not the file name, not the composition, not a repetition of the caption. A photograph of an engineer at a power plant: alt="Engineer inspecting solar panels at a CBC EMEA installation site" — not "image-4823.jpg" or "photo".

  • Decorative

    Purely decorative images — borders, abstract fills, background textures — carry alt="" and aria-hidden="true". Screen readers skip them. Do not add placeholder text to a decorative image.

  • Redundant

    If surrounding copy already fully describes what the image conveys, a brief or empty alt is acceptable. Do not repeat the caption verbatim — it doubles the audible information without adding meaning.

For the full accessibility requirements — WCAG contrast, semantic structure, and keyboard behaviour — see Accessibility → Structure & semantics.