Do you remember when you were that five-year-old kid? As soon as you got hold of a book to read, you first skimmed through it to see whether it has images, fancy enough for your attention. Maybe that's why comic books are a great hit, especially among children. Colourful and full of life! Now, do you know who is exactly like them? Your customer. You might have a powerful message, conveyed using those chosen words, and promoted across platforms using a well-defined strategy. But if it fails to stop their gaze in 10 seconds, that is a business lost. Use the same technique which retained the kid's attention - give a visual treat. Add the drama of design to your marketing strategy, and see how quickly your customer gets hooked to your brand communication.
The Power Of Design
Design as a whole is a drama with an ensemble of various characters - colours, typography, images, experience, and simplicity. Choose them according to your brand's personality and let your brand story unfold in front of your audience. Just like great actors uplift the script of a film, these elements in the right proportion will enhance the way you communicate. If done right, no longer will your customer scroll past your campaign or drive past that billboard, without noticing your advertisement. Because humans perceive an object to be good based on their attractiveness towards it & that's why good design is always the winner for that perfect first impression.
What Does The ‘Good’ In Good Design Mean?
Over the years, it has evolved from being restricted to flashy backgrounds and bold text. As defined by experts, good design is the one which is invisible to the naked eye. If your message is being read, rightly understood, and thought about, without any discomfort, it means you have a good designer on board. Because design comprises more about the functioning, rather than just the aesthetics. Good design complements the copy and does not steal the thunder. That is why intelligently designed websites and applications with structured content attract people because they make their lives easier while being easy on the eyes. In fact, 48% of the people agree that they determine the credibility of the brand through their website design!
Change Consistently Instead Of Consistently Changing
It is good to experiment, but it is important to do it according to your target audience. Analyse their sentiments towards your brand, identify the genre you would want others to associate your brand with, and make an informed decision. Design is much more than trial and error or selecting an option among four others. Think of it in the long run. Even if it is your brand logo or a single creative of a campaign, they need to look as they belong to the same play and are weaved into the same story. Companies like Google have changed their logo over the years, but the best part is they still look similar. Brands who remain consistent in their imaging are recognised by people as soon as they see the brand logos. Colours and imagery used also reflect the brand style and strike a chord with many. This is to prove, visual consistency is a must for those longer attention spans of your customer. The more memorable you make it, the better, as such logos get positive reactions 71.6% of the time.
When your consumer judges you by your cover (read as brand design), give them a reason to make the right judgement. Remember, the kid in you might have searched for pictures till the last page. Today's customer might not. Show them you have the best characters narrating your story. Then the stage will be yours! As rightly said by Nono Ohga, Chairman and CEO of Sony: “Design is the only thing that differentiates one product from another in the marketplace!”