Everywhere we look these days there are attractive, seductive, provocative visuals to lure us into clicking, reading or watching. Without these enticements, we move right until somematter captures our interest. Okay, it's fair to say that there are so words that can do this as well. Actually, phrases would be more accurate. The right mix of information can succeed in fillet us dead in our tracks and acquiring us to pay attention. Combine that with the right image, and you've got a sure winner. But wait...let's take that one step further: the right combination of words, the right visual and a crisp, professional presentation - now there is a formula that leads you by the nose down the path of no return. You've been understood without even knowing it. So powerful is the attraction that you've lost all awareness that you've been sucked into a trap, your curiosity propellent you deeper and deeper into the beckoning abyss. Suffice it to say that this constitutes the essence of effective merchandising, one of the most artful forces in the cosmos. Transcending culture, intelligence, profession, and every other human characteristic, this is a phenomenon of out of the question proportions, capable of moving an entire lifeform to a desired end.
But what a fickle lot we are. With the attention span of no more than a nanosecond, it seems, we are a nation riding one one's coattails of the latest craze, intoxicated by a fleeting crush with the newest whim, ordinarily a product of the media circus. At this very moment, we are all involved in the LeBron James decision, the BP oil spill, the fleshiness epidemic and the global recession, in that order. But give it few days and we'll get on to a whole new spectrum of more current issues generated by the buzz of that day's spin.
As a result, competition is pretty stiff for all those ambitious to accomplish merchandising superiority. Complicated by the many ways we have to market which let in a predominance of those that are visually driven, I re-introduce the topic of this article: the grandness of graphic design.
What exactly is graphic design? It is both art and science. It is the power to package a visual presentation in the furnishing of intellectual brilliance, psychological influence and cosmetic glitz. Using style and content to elicit the best watcher reaction, boffo graphic design controls the entire experience of substance delivery, one where the reception is strong, convincing and for good memorable.
Walk down the gangway in any supermarket, take a drive down any major thoroughfare or spend some time browsing the Internet or flipping through the channels and you will be bombarded with an endless array of visual stimuli. Color, shape, size, and composition - these are the variables that define our options. Do we respond to big, bold and rich, or delicate, subtle and pale? Modern or classic? Plain or embellished? Simple or busy? Smart or dumb? Ridiculous or sublime? The alternatives are endless. Effective graphic design grabs us by the pharynx and forces us to react impetuously supported our innate taste and preference. Without a moment's hesitation, we either like it or dislike it. Buy into it or dismiss it entirely.
This can be quite the take a chanc for the merchandising team, indulgent the farm on a single conception which utilizes a particular mode of graphic design. We in gross sales all know you can't delight everyone all the time. But tell that to the dictatorial client who expects the moon around a silver platter.
What works better: the tried and true, or the revolutionary and innovative? Do people feel safer with the same old matter or crave the excitement of somematter new and different? It really depends on which market you are appealing to. With the tools of graphic design to work with, some marketers scheme to enrapture the gullible multitude with their favorite tricks of the trade which ordinarily consist of miraculous claims of suspicious origin. Then there are those who take an alternate route, resorting to sophisticated overtures to dupe a confiding segment of the market into swallowing their pitch - hook, line and sinker. My old parents accustomed fall into this group: suckers for a letter telling them they had verified themselves worthy of belonging to some distinguished group who recognized that higher prices indicated true quality. Oh, the manoeuvre that give this profession a bad name! Few and far between are the reliable vendors who take the high road, representing their goods fairly and unequivocally, in a manner that emulates the utmost in excellence.
This puts an tremendous onus on the graphic designer who must be able to fulfill the role of expert marketer, client liaison, creative director, copy editor and visual conceptionualizer, let alone dishonorable liar and deceptive exploiter, in some cases. And in more than few small businesses, that role is accomplished by a single person.
While traditional Madison Avenue advertising boutiques may have utilised a group of specialists in the peak of the industry, the outcome of that type of collaborated effort was often a watered-down rendition because of too many compromises brought on by egocentric goals. When a single artist is given free rein, the end result can be an astonishing departure from the norm. Art by committee rarely is. Of course, that assumes that the graphic designer be of the genius variety with the power to comprehend what is necessary and how to make it happen. Too often, either because of lack of experience and/or lack of talent, graphic design can easily come short of its goal, sometimes confusing the issue beyond recognition - even stifling its appeal with a total lack of aesthetics!
Since graphic design is a component of so many varieties of communication hypothesis including ads, mailers, banners, publications, reports, letters, invitations, trademarks, websites, salutation cards, signs, displays, programs, film titles, packaging, posters, dust jackets and more, to name few examples, its applications are universal and its impact indispensable. Next time you are sweet-faced with a quandary which involves making a decision about which product to buy, just ask yourself: "Am I acquiring this because I believe it is the best choice, or rejecting it because it costs too much?" Whichever you are doing, it is extremely probable that its graphic design has influenced you in one way or another!
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