Comments on: Are You Using Pictures in White Papers?

By: Susan Weiner

Susan Weiner — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 16:50:13 +0000

I agree with Jonathan that too many photos would put a white paper over the top.

If I had to choose among them, I’d still go for graphs and charts before adding photos.

By: Michael Stelzner

Michael Stelzner — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 14:40:50 +0000

Hi All;

Who would have thought that a picture would have brought about so many words?

So, as in all things in life, the message is moderation.

Thanks all for your contribution. If only I had pictures of everyone!

Mike

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 00:01:46 +0000

I agree. There’s a point, and each white paper will be different, where the line is and one too many images will be WAY too many.

I don’t think HP had any intention of that being educational. They meant that to be marketing material.

By: Dianna Huff

Dianna Huff — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:51:48 +0000

JK — You are right. I didn’t read the thread fully.

By: Jonathan Kantor

Jonathan Kantor — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:39:58 +0000

Dianna,

I don’t think any of us would disagree with you. The issue here isn’t between having graphics or not having graphics. The question is when does adding too many photos puts a white paper over the top where it enters the brochure category.

My point with the enclosed HP white paper on VMWare shows that by adding one too many photos throughout the document diminishes its perception as a white paper. I feel that the example enters the brochure category instead. At this point, executives feel they are being “marketed to” rather than “educated” because they see this as a brochure.

It’s another example of perception meeting reality.

By: Dianna Huff

Dianna Huff — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 13:27:54 +0000

Having just read (ok, skimmed) four or five white papers while traveling, my vote is for, “Yes! It’s ok to add images (data, tables, graphs, diagrams, photos) to white papers.”

Tightly packed copy, little white space, dense paragraphs — after a few minutes my eyes started to glaze over. Give me white space, images, even stock photos — anything to break up the intimidating blocks of text.

By: Jonathan Kantor

Jonathan Kantor — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 21:50:56 +0000

Mike,

I think the problem with HP is that they don’t have ANY white paper design standards. Let us not forget the now infamous one page HP white paper that we discussed in the White Paper Source Forum:

http://www.businessweek.com/adsections/2004/pdf/0409_itwhitepaper.pdf

By: Michael Stelzner

Michael Stelzner — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 16:12:52 +0000

Having HP as my client, I can tell you this is NOT their standard white paper template. I would have to agree it looks a little to much like a brochure.

Mike

By: Copywriter Underground

Copywriter Underground — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 02:08:15 +0000

I’d have to say some of the photos in this paper fell into the “irrelevant, generic, boring, inane” stock photo category.

I’d kill the cover and page two photos and look for one good picture that delivered relevance, relevance, relevance…

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 04 Nov 2006 01:04:51 +0000

There are 300 million ways to do things, BECAUSE there are 300 million Americans.

But that HP thang looked and felt like a brochure to me.

If it quacks like a duck and waddles when it walks …