First impressions count and we all make snap judgements so if you have a message to get across to your audience, you don’t have long to make it count. It used to be said that we have just a few seconds to grab attention but recent studies show that this is no longer the case. In fact, it takes just 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for someone to form an opinion about what they see – and more importantly, whether they can be bothered finding out more.
Everywhere we look, someone’s brand is communicating with us and if it’s your brand that’s reaching out, it’s vital to ensure you’ve mixed the right message with the right design so you get maximum impact and cut through.
Getting the right design that fits your company brand, matches your message and make sense for the communication medium print or online – isn’t rocket science, but it does take some careful thought. Given that a whopping 94% of us form our first impression based on visual appeal, it’s important that all design elements including complexity, layout, colour schemes and fonts pack a graphical punch. That’s why at our Graphic Design Gold Coast studio we put so much emphasis on ensuring all of our work is visually appealing and functional.
Good design should motivate action. It’s the message on the page that is the crucial element of any communication but it’s the design that draws you in and makes you want to find out more. However the design challenge is to ensure that communicating the message never takes a backseat to visual attractiveness.
So with so many design possibilities, how do you make sure your design is the one that’s going to engage with your audience and get them to read your key messages? The first step is to make sure your designer really understands what it is you want to achieve. A little extra effort in your design brief now will pay huge dividends down the track when your audience sees your message.
Engagement isn’t a passive pastime it’s about active communication. It’s a two way street, where the message can be interpreted in many different ways, and the design is a crucial element in how your message is read and understood by your customers and prospects.
Within any piece of design, there can literally be dozens of elements involved. A good designer will make sure that you create the right impression in those all-important 50 milliseconds, creating a design for each individual communications piece that fits your brand attributes and maintains some consistency across all of your print and online requirements.
An edgy design probably isn’t going to be the right fit for a professional services company, just as traditional design isn’t going to work for an art school, so it’s important that your designer is briefed on the fundamental attributes of your brand. If your brand stands for professionalism and trustworthiness, your design output will be vastly different from a business whose brand stands for friendliness and fun.
It’s your designer’s job to create a great first impression, but that first impression must follow through with great content. If you’re looking for some great design for your next project, contact us at VB Designs for an obligation free discussion and quote. We’re your local specialists for Graphic Design Gold Coast and we’re ready to help you stand out from the crowd!
