Art Direction

Setting the creative direction for your campaigns and content.

Strong ideas need strong creative direction.

At Herron, we define how your campaigns, photography and content should look and feel, ensuring every asset is cohesive, distinctive and aligned with your brand.

What is Art Direction?

Art direction sets the visual vision for a campaign or content project. It defines how everything should look and feel — from the style, tone and composition to the lighting, locations, props and overall mood.

While design focuses on creating the final assets, art direction provides the creative leadership that guides them. It ensures photographers, videographers and designers all work to the same visual idea, so every output feels cohesive and on-brand.

Our work includes concepts, moodboards, shot lists, styling notes, lighting direction and on-set support to make sure each asset reflects the agreed creative direction.

Why Art Direction matters

Strong campaigns rely on more than good ideas — they need a clear visual direction that keeps every element working together.

Art direction unifies your imagery, styling and creative decisions so your brand shows up consistently wherever people encounter it. It ensures your content is intentional, cohesive and recognisably yours, helping you communicate with impact and reflect the quality of your business.

Good art direction helps you:

Create a consistent visual style

A clear direction ensures that every asset — even when created by different people — feels connected and intentional.

Show your products and services at their best

Thoughtfully planned setups, lighting and styling elevate even highly technical subjects.

Make shoots more efficient

With a clear plan, photographers, videographers and designers can work faster and with fewer revisions.

Improve campaign performance and impact

Cohesive visuals build recognition, trust and stronger engagement across channels.

Art Direction – What you’ll get

Our art direction service gives you strong creative leadership, clear decision-making and a single point of responsibility for ensuring everything you produce is aligned, consistent and high quality.

Here’s what you can expect:

Creative leadership and visual direction

Senior art direction that sets the overall look, feel and tone of your campaign, ensuring every creative decision ladders up to a clear vision.

Detailed visual planning and documentation

Moodboards, creative references, shot lists, styling notes and setup plans that keep photographers, videographers and designers aligned and working efficiently.

Styling, locations and on-set direction

Hands-on guidance for props, environments, composition and lighting so your products, people or environments are shown in the best possible way.

On-set direction and quality control

Real-time decision-making during shoots to maintain consistency, avoid wasted time and ensure every shot meets the agreed creative standard.

Why choose Herron for Brand Strategy

We’re an experienced design team with deep expertise across brand, digital and marketing — bringing big-agency capability with the accessibility of a close, collaborative partner based in Sheffield. Our work is grounded in clarity, craft and commercial understanding, shaped by years of delivering for ambitious B2B organisations.

Proven in complex B2B sectors

From industrial and manufacturing environments to professional services, we help businesses turn technical subjects into compelling campaign visuals that resonate with specialist audiences.

Senior expertise, hands-on delivery

You’ll work directly with senior creatives and art directors with experience producing campaigns across the UK and Europe. No layers, no hand-offs — just clear thinking and high-quality work.

Partners for the long term

Many clients return to us for ongoing campaigns, refreshed shoots and updated visual systems as their brand evolves. We build visual approaches designed to last, not one-off executions.

Joined-up design across every channel

Our art direction aligns seamlessly with your brand identity, website and marketing assets, ensuring everything works together visually and strategically.

Who We Work With

Our sweet spot is industrial and manufacturing B2B — where products, environments and expertise-led services need strong visual clarity. We help these businesses communicate quality and innovation through carefully directed visuals.

We also work with professional services firms — consultancies, financial specialists and other knowledge-led organisations — where consistent, polished visuals build credibility and trust.

Testimonials

Everything’s increased since we commissioned Herron – customer enquiries, how much we export, the productivity of our staff and profit. Our website & marketing materials have never worked harder – and the sales figures prove it.

Keith Stewart
HEROSE UK

The service from the team at Herron has been second-to-none. We get compliments on the website all the time — it really showcases what we can do and has led to gaining new clients in the UK and overseas.

Josh Kershaw
Furniss & White

Having Paul and Herron on the journey with us and working collaboratively with our team has been invaluable — and hopefully we can continue that relationship going forward.

Ryan Lockwood
Fernco

Today’s casting industry is modern and dynamic — we need to reflect our members as vital solution providers to global advanced manufacturing. Working with Paul and his team helped CMF overhaul the way we communicate.

Dr. Pam Murrell
Cast Metals Federation

Our approach

Our approach combines creative leadership with practical, hands-on management. We make sure everyone involved — from photographers to videographers to internal teams — is aligned, prepared and working to the same visual direction to ensure your final assets meet the standard your brand deserves.

Here’s how we do it:

1. Discover

We begin by reviewing your brand, campaign objectives and any existing imagery. We also discuss practical details such as locations, product access, timing, equipment and team involvement. This ensures our direction is grounded in real-world constraints, not just creative ambition.

2. Define

We develop moodboards, references and a creative direction document that outlines style, lighting, tone, composition and overall atmosphere. Nothing moves forward until everyone is aligned — meaning no surprises later. This becomes the central guide for your team and any external partners.

3. Design

We create structured shot lists, storyboards (if needed), styling notes, prop lists and location recommendations. We liaise directly with photographers, videographers or production teams to ensure logistics are clear, shots are achievable, and everyone knows what is expected on the day.

4. Direct

We attend the shoot (in person or remotely where appropriate) to guide composition, lighting, styling, framing, product placement and consistency. We make real-time decisions to maintain quality, remove ambiguity and keep everything aligned with the approved visual direction.

5. Deliver

We review all photography and video outputs, flag any reshoots or adjustments needed, and work with suppliers to refine final edits. The result is a suite of assets that look consistent, on-brand and ready for use across your website, campaigns and marketing materials.

Frequently asked questions

Got a few questions about how we work or what to expect? You’re not alone — here are some of the most common things we get asked about Art Direction:

Can you help with video shoots as well as photography?

Yes. We provide art direction for both stills and motion, ensuring visual consistency across all formats.

Can you work with our existing photographer or external suppliers?

Yes. We regularly collaborate with in-house teams, external photographers, videographers and production companies. Our role is to set the creative vision, brief everyone clearly and maintain consistency throughout the shoot. This ensures all outputs — regardless of who produces them — look aligned, on-brand and professionally directed.

Do you provide photography or just the direction?

We offer both. We can collaborate with your photographer or bring in one of our trusted partners, while providing full creative direction.

How does art direction improve the commercial impact of our campaigns?

Strong art direction ensures your campaigns look cohesive and premium, which directly improves audience trust, engagement and recall. It reduces wasted spend by preventing inconsistent visuals, misaligned shoots and off-brand creative. The result is content that performs better, works harder and supports stronger sales and marketing outcomes.

How early should we involve you in a project?

The earlier the better. Involving us at the planning stage ensures the shoot is efficient, aligned with your goals and visually coherent.