Choosing good contact photos for a picture phone

One face, large, straight on

The goal is a picture recognisable in half a second, at arm's length, in ordinary daylight. That means a face filling most of the frame.

Crop hard. From the top of the head to the chin, with a little air around it. A full-body shot shrinks the face to a few millimetres and makes the button meaningless.

Avoid these pictures

Most failed contact photos fall into one of the categories below.

• Group shots — the person has to be found in the picture first, which defeats the purpose.
• Sunglasses, caps or backlight that shadows the face.
• Pictures taken from a distance, for example on a stage or across a table.
• Pictures where the person looks away or is in profile.
• Screenshots from social media, which are often compressed and blurry.

New photo or old?

The question comes up often when memory is affected: should the grandchild appear as a child or as an adult? Start from which picture the person recognises fastest today, not from which is most current.

A reasonable test is to hold up two printed pictures and ask who it is. The one that gets an immediate answer is the right one.

The name under the picture

Use the name actually used, not the formal one. 'Anna' or 'Mum', depending on what the family says. A surname in the button rarely helps.

Keep it short — a long name shrinks the text and clutters the button.

How many people on the screen

Four to six faces is usually right. Fewer than four feels empty, more than six turns back into a list and shrinks the buttons.

Pick the people who actually answer. A contact who never picks up teaches the person that the screen does not work, and then it stops being used.