The human face of sustainability. Representing social sustainability in banks’ corporate websites in Spain and the United Kingdom

Visual design plays a key role on banks’ websites. However, little is known about how images are deployed to convey key messages in specific sections. This paper conducts an analysis of the human images in the “Sustainability” and “About us” sections of two Spanish and two UK bank websites, considering aspects of representation, interaction and composition. Although varied patterns emerge, our results show trends to use human images differently in the two sections: group “offer” images predominate in the “Sustainability” pages, suggesting relatable everyday narratives and abstract qualities such as closeness and approachability, whereas “demand” images in the “About us” section appear to be used to reinforce the bank’s ethos, communicate authority and inspire trust.