Yandex Taxi photo style

Background

In our creative team at Yandex Taxi, we identified a problem: our brand lacked a consistent photographic style. This inconsistency led to a scattered portrayal of our drivers on different platforms, which was negatively affecting our overall brand image. To fix this, we decided to create a photographic style that could be used universally across different media platforms and department needs, while truly representing the day-to-day experiences of our drivers.

As a Senior Designer on the Yandex Taxi creative team, I was given the opportunity to lead this project. My task was to create an easily adaptable photographic style for Yandex Taxi that could be implemented across diverse media platforms, ranging from billboards to smartphones. This involved aligning a multitude of specific requirements from various departments into a cohesive system and creating guidelines that could be easily followed by different photo crews to ensure a consistent style. The task was an opportunity for me to step out of my comfort zone and take on a project beyond my usual scope of work.

Process

I began by coordinating with legal, marketing, social media, and other relevant departments to understand their unique needs and constraints. For example, a crucial stipulation was that everyone in a car must be depicted wearing seatbelts in photographs.

To gain a deeper understanding of our subjects, we conducted a series of interviews with drivers to understand their daily routines and figure out compelling photographic narratives. I collected references for portraits, reportages, and car photography, striving to achieve cinematic shots that captured authentic moments from drivers’ daily work routines. I also scripted the narrative for each shot.

A key aspect of the project was assembling a pool of photographers proficient in reportage-style portraits and technically challenging car photography. I was deeply involved in various aspects of the project, including location scouting, approving stylists, beauty experts, set designers, and prop artists. I supervised the casting process with a clear emphasis on diversity.

As the art director during the shoots, my role involved working closely with the crew and actors, and approving the final shots. After the test shoots, I collected feedback from all departments and refined the photo style accordingly.

Result

The result was a versatile and resilient photographic style complete with illustrative examples and detailed descriptions of angles, lighting, poses, composition, narratives, and an overarching look and feel. This style has been successfully implemented and used by the Yandex Taxi driver team for over three years now.