I’m fortunate to have acquired this experience! Initially, it was a small, fun project that has become a process. Now each new employee gets a photo session appointment and the total number of participants in the photoshoot has become over 300.
The following recruiting video was created based on these photo sessions.
At one of our quarterly meetings, we discussed the idea of creating a Polaroid-style employees’ photo wall in the office. And my design team got a task to come up with a layout for this wall.
I created a concept of integrating the photo wall's design into the existing ornament of all our glass walls in the office. The logo is placed in the middle, and the employees' portraits spread around, representing the company's fundamental particles.
At the same time, the company needed our employees’ photos for presentations, new projects, and internal recruiting processes. The feedback on the test photoshoot I did was very positive, so I was asked to take care of the whole project. Together with a colleague of mine, we finilized the layout and prepared the setup, equipment and other props for all upcoming photoshoots.
The initial idea was to use the same photos for the Wall, profiles, and presentations. On the one hand, classical business headshots were the right thing for these purposes, but, on the other hand, would they truly stand for who our people really are? I challenged myself with the following question: How to make the Wall interesting, inspiring, and fun for both employees and visitors?
The true power of my collegues is the ability to combine several roles in one person. So-called unicorns who are good at several aspects of their work and own truly unique skills outside of their primary professional expertise. We have an IT administrator who is also a kids' soccer coach. Product Owner and a beekeeper. Firefighter, drone pilot, professional American football player, actress, wedding photographer, diver, martial arts master, bodybuilder, magician, juggler, and many more. I suggested to expose people's other sides, passions, hobbies, and whatever makes their hearts beat faster and came to the idea of splitting each photoshoot into two parts: fun and business sessions. For each of these parts we defined dress codes and guidelines later.
Each employee could bring any props they wished and have whatever outfit and hairstyle they wanted for the fun part. It also helped the camera-shy ones to feel more comfortable and confident.
By the way, it was also very exciting to get to know my colleagues better!
After the Photo Wall was finished and presented, everybody started paying more attention to each other and became more curious about each other’s interests, too. When looking at the photos, suddenly, many realized they had a lot in common. So, the project worked also as a kind of continuous team-building.
It was a huge fun! Every time we a have a session other colleagues visit our studio from time to time to help, watch and laugh with us. The project still goes on as new employees join the company.