Now Designs Photo Styling Guide
Our Spring 2026 collection celebrates the simple pleasures of home cooking and gathering, offering inspiration for creating beautiful moments with fresh produce and gourmet recipes. As the rising cost of living makes dining out less accessible, we embrace the joy of cooking at home and the delight of neighborhood grocery shopping experiences. Each visit becomes a treat, filled with the excitement of discovering the perfect ingredient or accessory (with amazing packaging of course) that elevates even the most modest dishes. Whether it’s a casual BBQ on the patio or an elegant outdoor meal, this collection turns everyday dining into unforgettable patio gatherings under the sun or the stars.
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Spotlight Category
Acrylic Drinkware
Elevate it with an Outdoor Living story, paired with Ocean Bound, Seagrass, melamine, and fresh ingredients from the market. It looks like glassware in quality, similar to the melamine
Spotlight Collection
Fern & Frond
This collection is designed to be an evergreen design, used across seasons. A nod to color blocking and the earthy green color we've seen in trend research.
Categories Dropped or Phasing Out
Now Designs Props to Avoid
Avoid using the following products from the Now Designs brand as props in your shots. They are on their way out.
- Produce Bags
- Flora Nesting Mugs
- Leaf Ramekin
- Easter Meadow Tall Mug
- Easter Eggs Shaped Tray
- Juliette Outdoor Rug
- Peony Le Marche Bag
Home Cooking, Gatherings, Small Luxuries, Fresh Ingredients, Gourmet Recipes, Cost Of Living, Casual Dining, Outdoor Living, Patio, BBQ, Unique Ingredients, Culinary Creativity, Joyful Shopping, Gourmet Grocery, Memorable Experiences, Elevate, Inspiration, Seasonal, Treat, Togetherness
F25 Story: Outdoor Living
Outdoor Living
- Al Fresco
Set a beautifully styled outdoor dining table with seasonal flowers, fresh ingredients, and casual but elegant melamine dinnerware, showcasing a joyful gathering atmosphere. - Garden Moments.
Spending time in the garden or park, appreciating the simple joy of being in nature.
F25 Story: Casual Gatherings
Casual Gatherings
- Picnic in the Park
Set up a charming picnic scene in a park with a blanket, gourmet snacks, and refreshing drinks, showcasing outdoor living and togetherness. - Family Brunch
Capture a candid moment of a family or friends enjoying a casual meal outdoors, emphasizing the joy of coming together
F25 Story: Market Finds
Market Finds
- Shopping Journey
Capture shoppers in a gourmet grocery store, exploring colorful produce and unique ingredients, highlighting the joyful shopping experience. - Display Delights
Lively, food-rich merchandising displays where Danica products pair naturally with nicely packaged food products, fresh produce and
F25 Story: In the Kitchen
In the Kitchen
- Kitchen Nook
Personal display of unique utensils, stylish pots and serveware - From Scratch
Home cook preparing a gourmet recipe in a stylish kitchen. - Fresh Focus
Fresh ingredients arranged artfully in an outdoor prep kitchen space. - Mise en Place
Inspiration board of recipe cards, fresh ingredients, and cooking tools.
Timeless Gourmet
- Grocery Strategy. We have built a strong group of culinary themes to suit this environment. Showing our product in delis, gourmet groceries, bakeries, cafes and kitchen/gift/garden stores will help customers see themselves reflected.
- Outdoor living continues to be a focus as we build out the assortment of products, and themes of garden and nature continue to complement this group well.
- Products that really pop in busy spaces. By keeping surface design a little simpler, striking, and classic, our designs will shine in stores.
- Timeless assortment. We’ focused on building lasting appeal, while strategically introducing fresh and relevant seasonal updates. In Photography, this can mean combining more new with carryover in imagery to create a more complete story.
- Focus on fine functionality that aligns with gourmet cooking, allows the products to enhance food preparation, presentation, and enjoyment. We design products that blend beauty with purpose and we want to focus on that in our images
- Novelty items or stories in the collection to help customers build a more unique thematic display, and for consumers to create personal spaces that reflect their style.
- Small, Affordable, Hangable, Heartfelt. Scale, <$10 or $20 pricepoint, hanging construction or packaging and an emotional connection sets Danica apart in Key Accounts Grocery. Consider this effort in photography
Product Display Guidelines
- Textiles should be hung, not folded or tucked under other products
- Folded towels can act as accents to hanging samples
- Focus on abundance merchandising whenever possible: avoid featuring a single item on a shelf
- All aprons should be displayed on models, manequins or hanging, not folded.
- When possible, all tablecloths and runners should be displayed hung, draped or spread out, not folded.
- All totes should be worn, hung or stuffed
Product Introductions
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Photo Styling
Look & Feel
- Classic
- Homestyle
- Warm
- Culinary
- Natural
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Photo Styling
Backdrops
- Light wood
- White and light painted surfaces
- Marble
- Granite
- Tiles
- Stainless Steel
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Photo Styling
Layouts
- Natural, layered, relaxed
- Authentic kitchen scenes
- Tablescapes
- Retail displays
- Home settings
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Photo Styling
Props
- A selection of key props that tie into the themes, stories and artwork of the season will be acquired ahead of time.
- Flatware, glassware and candle holders from Danica Heirloom can be used in subtle ways.
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Photo Styling
Styling Effects
- Scattered props and tipped over products add a natural, candid feel
- Relaxed but well coordinated table settings tell the right story
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Photo Styling
Themes & Stories
- Props directly drawn from the design is a fun way to show off the artwork & colors
- Reference the seasonal brand stories for ideas on themes and settings.
- Collection shots can be complex and layered to show off the product family
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Photo Styling
Scaling
- Go in close on smaller items, and include props that give a sense of scale
- Show product sets in use together with appropriate props for scale reference
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Photo Styling
Settings
- Hands and action shots are great to show how to use products
- Larger retail settings and kitchen scenes show color and pattern coordination well
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Props & Food
General Guidelines
- The Now Designs' home is lively and busy
- We're capturing cooking, cleaning, serving and decorating on-the-go and behind the scenes.
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Props & Food
Inline Products
- Prop with coordinating products from the brand when appliable
- Use products from other Danica brands only if it's more neutral and generic. It should not be easily identified.
- Consult the Drop Master catalogue to see what has been dropped
- Consult the Props to Avoid section of this guide for near future drops
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Props & Food
Food Guidelines
- Bread should be rustic with a home-baked look.
- Cheese, snacks and crackers are elevated.
- Produce and eggs are fresh from the farmer's market.
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Props & Food
Greenery
- Flowers are sourced from the garden, small local flower shop or farmer's market
- Choose more unusual flowers with character rather than your everyday grocery store bouquet
- Avoid feauting faux branches and and greenery, they should only be used in the background or to bulk out natural props.
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Now Designs Models
Look & Feel
- Relatable
- Classic
- Diverse
- All ages
- Families
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Now Designs Models
Wardrobe
- Classic cuts, colors and patterns.
- Neutral collared shirts and blouses.
- Jeans, chinos, dress pants and skirts. In-line aprons.
- Fitted dresses.
- Boots, flats, sandals.
- Cotton, chambray.
- Plaids, gingham, solids, stripes.
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Now Designs Models
Makeup & Hair
- Lightly styled and made up.
- Neat and tidy.
- Manicured nails in coordinated colors, can be bold if it ties into product.
- Everyday styled hair.
- Pony-tails, buns, simple up-dos
- Simple, understated jewellery
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Now Designs Models
Posing
- In the moment, focused on a task or demonstrating.
- Joyful, confident.
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Additional PhotographyMind the Gap
Evaluating existing shots and creating images that fill in information gaps for the viewer is key. The outcome should be converting customers to purchase through a seamless and user friendly buying experience.
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Additional PhotographyFunctionality
The first styling goal in most cases will be to show the product's funcionality. Simple 'hot item on trivet' shots are key here. Showing items in use with models will often be a nice solution.
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Additional PhotographyScale
For many items, contextualizing its scale will be an important objective. Everyday kitchen items and models play an important role here. Often you can cover both scale and functionality in the same shot.
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Additional PhotographyUnique Selling Point
For products with more unique characteristics, it will be important to clarify their intended use. For instance, show items nested, from multiple angles or gift packaged. Featuring alternate uses can be effective as well..
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Additional Photography
Number of Images
One additional image per product is currently the minimum goal, but fitting in secondary images when possible should be a focus. Closeups to show texture and details will be a good way to bump up the shot numbers here.
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Additional Photography
Collection Props & Packaging
Featuring other items from the same collection as the main product is encouraged if it makes sense in the setup. Gift box packaging can be used as a prop or riser of sorts as well, but packaging focused photography will be done separately.
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Additional Photography
Image Requirements
- Aspect ratio 1:1 (square)
- Recommended resolution: 3000x3000 px
- PPI 300 dpi
- Color mode: RGB
- File format: JPEG, JPG, PNG
- Max file size: 2 mb
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Additional Photography
Image Guidelines
Show the product with other objects to give context or show how people would use the product in real life.
The product should be the main focus, ensure the props/models do not draw the attention away from the actual product.
What Not To Do
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Now Designs' Don'tsSafeway Food Props
Food props should have a wholesome, homemade or farmer's market look. We want to evoke small-scale, sustainable farming and food sourcing.
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Now Designs Don'tsDramatic Lighting
Keep the lighting soft and natural to differentiate from our other brands. Avoid hard shadows and dramatic overlay effects. Soft dappled light for a summer outdoors effect is okay.
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Now Designs Don'tsVibrant Backdrops
Stay away from bightly coloured, painted backdrops to differentiate from our other brands. Think classic home and kitchen surfaces.
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Now Designs Don'tsDark & Rustic Backdrops
Avoid dark, rustic wood and weathered surfaces to differentiate from our other brands. The Now Designs home is more modern with lighter woods and clasic kitchen surfaces.
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Now Designs Don'tsDried Flowers & Cacti
Keep it fresh! Go for fresh flowers, herbs and produce instead of dried. Avoid succulents, cacti and sculpted plants to differentiate from our other brands.
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Now Designs Don'tsPlastic Flowers & Astroturf
Use fake foliage only out of focus or mostly hidden in the background. Opt to shoot outdoors instead of using astroturf, or choose another patio-appropriate ground.
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Now Designs Don'tsRedundant Images
Don’t shoot a lifestyle image just to add another image to the product page, ensure it serves a purpose and features a different selling point than existing images.
