August 18, 2026

How to build a company photo directory in 2026: template, photos and dimensions

A company photo directory (sometimes called a trombinoscope) only works if it stays accurate. This guide covers what to display, what dimensions to use, how to collect photos properly, and how to keep it current as your team changes.

What a company photo directory is for

A photo directory helps colleagues put a face to a name, especially in distributed or fast-growing teams. It usually lives on an intranet, in a printed booklet, or as a page on your internal tools. Its value depends entirely on two things: whether every current employee is actually in it, and whether the photos look like they belong together.

What to display for each entry

• First and last name
• Role or job title
• Team or department
• Office or location, for distributed teams
• A portrait that follows the same visual style as everyone else

Dimensions and framing

There is no universal standard, but two formats cover most cases: a square crop (1:1) for grid-style directories and intranet cards, and a portrait crop (3:4 or 4:5) for printed booklets or a dedicated team page. Whichever you choose, keep the same framing for everyone: head and shoulders, centered, with consistent margin above the head.

Why backgrounds need to match

A directory with ten different backgrounds, taken on ten different phones, in ten different rooms, reads as unmanaged even if every individual photo looks fine. The fix is not asking everyone to photograph themselves against a white wall. It is defining a saved background and framing rules once, then using those settings for every generated portrait. Individual results can still vary.

Collecting photos with consent

Whatever method you use to collect photos, be explicit about three things before anyone submits one: how the photo will be used, where it will appear, and how long it will be kept. Get this confirmation before the photo is submitted or used, not after, and keep a record of it.

Handling new hires without breaking consistency

The most common way a directory degrades is simple: someone joins after the original photos were taken, and their entry either stays empty for weeks or gets a mismatched photo added later. Whatever process you use for the initial batch, make sure it can be repeated for a single new person at any time, without needing to re-coordinate everyone else.

A simple checklist and template

Here is a minimal structure you can copy directly into a spreadsheet or your intranet tool:

• Column 1: Full name
• Column 2: Role
• Column 3: Team
• Column 4: Location
• Column 5: Photo status (pending, uploaded, ready)
• Column 6: Date the entry was last updated

Before publishing, check each entry against this list: name spelled correctly, role current, photo present, photo matches the same style as the rest of the directory.

Automating this with CorpoStudio

CorpoStudio does not manage the directory itself: it produces the portraits that go into it. You define a visual style once, invite each employee, and they generate their own portrait against that style. When someone joins later, invite them the same way and the saved background, export format and framing rules are reused. You then download the PNG files and add them to whatever directory tool you use.