Text, Watermark & Branding

Adding text, watermarks, and brand elements cleanly

Text and branding should remain visible without fighting the image underneath. Contrast, placement, scale, spacing, and opacity matter more than simply making a watermark larger. Brand marks also need enough clear space to remain recognizable after an image is resized.

For repeated publishing, use consistent positions and sizing rules so a set of images feels related. If a watermark is intended as attribution, test it on both bright and dark areas of the image; one fixed opacity or color may not work on every photograph.

Practical tips

• Use sufficient contrast or a subtle backing treatment behind small text.
• Keep logos and important copy away from the outer crop area.
• Scale watermarks in proportion to the image rather than using one fixed pixel size.
• Check that branded text is still legible after the image is reduced to thumbnail size.
• Use consistent typography, spacing, and placement across a campaign or image series.