There are parts of our lives that we often take for granted. One of these is design. We have such a long relationship with it that we tend to overlook it and its impact on how we live and experience our environments.
Visual design is all about reducing the mental workload for our audience. Here are several interesting examples of how this is done in advertising. Most people who are designing things, whether it be an ad or a website, don’t take this into consideration. They make the failed assumption that people are actually interested in the information being put forward. This leads many creators of promotional material to care more about what is being said than how it is being said. I’d like to suggest that, while your message should be good, many times the execution of how you present the information can be more important than what you’re actually presenting.
The ultimate impact design has on us is that it requires us to exert less effort to achieve some task.
Here are a few key design points to consider when designing any piece of promotional material. They’ll help to make sure your website and other marketing collateral communicate your ideas and messages.
Human beings perceive visual information before they perceive analytical information. The human eye loves contrast and extremes. We are skilled at distinguishing shapes, sizes, and colors. If you want to guide people to certain pieces of information, do it with this understanding.
People are drawn other people. Using a picture that contains a person or a group of people is powerful. It allows the viewer to connect subconsciously with the message. Additionally, it gives your brand or message an air of humanity.
Avoid trendiness. Using “unique” fonts and Photoshop filters may seem good at first, but this is a classic mistake of amateur designers. The fanciness of these embelishments will quickly fade, leaving your design with an outdated and over-used feel. Good design makes use of the “contrast” concept from point #1 combined with simple, classic design principles that convey clever ideas. Don’t break my heart by using drop shadows, bevel-emboss, squigly fonts, etc.
Use excellent typography. Typography is the art of designing and laying-out type. Specifically regarding web design, this is a huge – and often overlooked – aspect of many websites. Here are some great examples of how this can be done well. It is used to make content more interesting by, yet again, applying the concepts from point #1.
If you’d like to discuss these or other issues regarding your website, please feel free to contact us. We’d be happy to talk it through with you!
All the best!
Joe Bennett
Sites That Pop