How does your brand engage with its audience? One easy way of telling your brand’s story is with visuals. It is said that 90 percent of information transmitted to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text. While there may be may other ways to visually convey brand information, creative design is the most popular way to communicate your brand story to your audience. It is an easy way of expressing who your company is and what your brand values are.
You can make a lasting impression on your audience and make your brand more memorable through creative design using the tips below:
Identify your story
Before you start designing, identify the story you want to narrate to your audience. Is it emotional, energetic, happy or sad? Determining your story will help you create that perfect design with the right mood, values and tone.
Storytelling through design
An article published in Circlesstudio.com states that 46.1 percent of people say a website’s design is the number one criteria for discerning the credibility of the company.
Therefore, visual content or design helps drive engagement as people will understand your brand’s story better and remember it for a longer time. The images, colors and fonts that you use make it simpler for you to set the mood of the story you are telling.
Take Coca-Cola ads, for example. People in the images are smiling, because they want to convey the message of (serving) happiness through their ads. “Spreading Happiness” is their brand story, and it is conveyed through the design of their ad.
Now that you know the importance of design for telling your brand story, benefits of storytelling and how to identify your own brand story, let’s have a look at how to tell your brand story the right way using creative design:
- Use large imagery: a picture is worth thousand words. It is an old but a true saying. You can easily share information about your company and its values by using big images or illustrations. You don’t have to necessarily talk about your product, but utilize a large image to tell a story about your product.
TOMS shoes, for instance, is one of the best examples of this. The brand uses images in order to build a connection with the audience to tell a story.
- Use enticing words or phrases: this is the most interesting part of your creative design. A good phrase or word can make a long lasting impact on your audience, as they will be interested to know more about your company or business.
For example, Clif Bar is a brand that encourages adventure. The company’s website uses the phrase, “Feed Your Adventure,” which describes their work appropriately and also entices readers to learn more.
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- Choose your color palette carefully: there is no denying that color is the strongest factor when it comes to connecting with people. Color has great impact on people and different colors tell different stories.
An article published in Shortstack.com states that a whopping 84.7 percent of people say that color is a primary reason they buy a particular product. Also, research reveals that people make a subconscious judgement about an environment or product within 90 seconds of initial viewing. Between 62 percent and 90 percent of that assessment is based on color alone.
Color is the topmost component of what people remember most of a brand. For instance, you will be able to easily detect the real brand logo of McDonald’s in the images shown below.
- Use design effects to tell your story: as technology changes, so do your creative options. At present, there are several trends in web design that are being used extensively, including parallax effects.
For instance, GoPro has a video on its website that grabs eyeballs and tells the audience their story.
- Have clear navigation, CTA buttons: clear and simply designed pages will help users navigate your website with ease. Clearly state the steps to be followed after people reach a particular spot on your website.
For example, the Nike website helps customers reach the sales portion of the site in multiple ways. The call to actions are clear and prominent stating, “You want to be the ‘baddest’ basketball player you can be? Click here.”
Over to you
What is the story behind your company? Telling your brand’s story is an important part of creative design. Be sure to relate the information you want to share with your audience through design, images and fonts. Just follow the steps mentioned above and you will create a lasting impression for your audience.