Art of the visual message part 1

Priming the Market | Introworks

What’s a message anyway?

This is not a ridiculous question. In fact, it’s a question that should be asked with more frequency. Organizations typically spend copious amounts of time, energy and money to arrive at the correct articulation of a singular message. In most cases, “message” is defined in verbal terms-words, groups of words, written or spoken. Yet, the singular thought you wish to impart on your customer is the message. Too often, that message is lost on the receiving end because of how it’s packaged and delivered. The disconnect between the verbal or written message and the visual composition is a main contributing factor to misinterpretation. You must take into account a non-verbal, purely visual “paralanguage” that is used to modify meaning and convey emotion. The result can strengthen and add depth to your core proposition.

How do you compose the right message?

Think of paralanguage as the expressive qualities (i.e. facial expressions and body language) of your brand. It’s what is implied, and not necessarily said, that acts in a more subliminal way to influence the receiver. There are many basic grammars that form the structure of this visual language, but we can combine them into two rudimentary categories: The Principles of Design and the Elements of Design. These terms are central to the designer’s vocabulary. A broad proficiency of their application combined with the natural talent to marshal them is how the entire composition becomes your message.

The fundamental Principles of Design articulated by designers to create compositions with clarity of message and visual interest are:

Balance
Symmetrical and asymmetrical

The positioning of objects in a design as it pertains to its visual weight in a composition.

Rhythm
Regular, flowing and progressive

The repetition or variation of elements, commonly occurring with deliberate breaks between.

Proportion
The contrast of forms or their distribution; scale between one element and another.

Dominance
The relation of varying degrees of emphasis; resolves in a composition where the eye travels first. There is a hierarchal order to this principle: 1. Dominant 2. Sub-dominant 3. Subordinate.

Unity
The relationship between the individual parts and the whole of a composition. It investigates the vital pieces that bring a design together. This concept stems from the German Gestalt Theories of visual perception in psychology.

The basic Elements of Design are the components used to create the composition itself. Evolutionary in nature, they build upon one another: pointlineformtexture, color and typography.

The next time your company is assembling to hammer-out your latest message, remember that every communication piece, every brand touch-point that you put out there should have meaning that minimizes subjective interpretation. The role of visual communication is to converge your written or verbal message and your visual paralanguage so that the result is a seamless and unified statement. When that happens, you are truly sending the right message about your brand.

Art of the Visual Message Part II will explore further the principle of Unity (or Gestalt) in design and its visually gestural “paralanguage” as it relates to your message.

By Mike McMillan

Founding Partner, Chief Strategy Officer at Introworks

Mike spearheads GTM initiatives and branding campaigns for innovative technology companies.

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