Start from what the picture has to do, then take the style that is made for it. Each style has a brief that fixes ground, palette, light and composition, and names the reference pictures a new picture is matched against.
Styles by purpose
| Style | Use for | Reference pictures |
|---|---|---|
| OTTO 3D illustration | empty states, onboarding, error and success, chapter openers | two to four motifs from the official illustration set |
| OTTO product still | product tiles, mock-ups without a real product photo | the real product photo, if one exists |
| OTTO colour field | social posts, OG images, covers and title slides; type and logo are added in the layout | none, or a real object photo |
| OTTO lifestyle photo | campaign, category and editorial images | real OTTO photography |
| OTTO red material | section heroes, chapter openers and covers in a calm, professional register | none; OTTO red #EB001F is named in the brief |
| OTTO letter sculpture | brand heroes, chapter openers and statement sections; the logo itself is always the original file | the original OTTO wordmark |
| Otto Group corporate photo | annual report, corporate, employer and sustainability material | real Otto Group photography |
| Otto Group layered photo | Otto Group presentations and the corporate website: professional photos with a blurred foreground layer | the presentation master pictures and the ottogroup.com pictures of 2026 |
OTTO or Otto Group
OTTO, the retailer behind otto.de, and the Otto Group look and speak differently. One piece never mixes the two: see OTTO or Otto Group? and the tone of voice.
One style per series
A series of pictures in one piece, such as the chapter openers of a report or the tiles of a landing page, uses one style throughout. Two styles side by side read as two sources.
An existing official motif always comes before a new picture: OTTO's illustrations and the real photography in references.