When it comes to creating your brand identity and marketing materials, from brochure printing to logo design, it is important to recognise that your design needs to be strategic, suited to the psychology of your target audience. The mind is powerful, and impacts the way your target market will interact, react, and engage with your brand, ultimately influencing their purchase decision.
Let’s take a look at some of the key psychological principles to consider in brand design:
Hicks Law
Experienced graphic designers will understand the importance of Hicks Law in marketing. Hicks Law refers to the time span it takes for someone to make a decision. The more options available, the longer it will take the audience to make a decion, or no decision will be made because the audience is overwhelmed.
This should always be taken into consideration when developing a marketing campaign. For example: if you are creating a brochure print, make sure it is easy to read, colour coded, and categorised. This makes it easy for the reader to find the information they are looking for.
You also don’t want to overwhelm the reader by directing them to take too many actions.
Your Call to Action (CTA) should be simple, with a primary and secondary objective:
Primary CTA: Contact us today to claim this discount – (contact details)
Secondary CTA: Follow is on Twitter! (@twitterhandle)
Hicks Law tells us that in order to create a successful brand design, we need to consider the audience and the decisions we want them to make. Do not overwhelm with too much content, imagery and direction. Provide relevant information, ensuring it is easy to ready and simple to navigate – this will improve conversions and make for a successful campaign.
Von Restorff Effect
In 1933, Hedwig Von Restorff tested a theory. Von Restorff believed that if you isolate an image, highlight it in some way, it becomes easier for the audience to recall the item over the others presented to them in the design. So, if you want to place emphasis on a particular product, you draw the audience’s eye to it by isolating the visual. This can be achieved through size, colour, spacing, texture, etc.
It is important to note that the audience will remember the highlighted item and subconsciously dismiss the others. Keep this in mind when considering the Von Restorff effect. If other elements are of equal importance, this is not the design route to take.
Maslow’s Hierarchy: Emotive Design
How can the design motivate your audience to the next level of the pyramid and eventually elicit a sense of emotion?
The Maslow Hierarchy should be a part of every designer’s handbook. The pyramid explains the necessary steps designers need to consider to bring the audience to a sense of self actualisation. When creating brochure prints, billboards, digital designs etc., designers make use of this theory and develop the target markets purchasing personality/persona.
It comes down to emotive design, and below are two great examples of this:
Human Touch: Focus on the Face
This works hand in hand with what is mentioned above. Emotive design is essential to successful marketing and this should be considered for certain marketing materials such as websites and posters. By placing a person in your design, you are pulling your audience into your flyer, billboard, website, or brochure. Why? We are drawn to faces. It has been proven that when faces are added to designs, conversions increase dramatically. So, how can you use this human element in your design?
By using a face, you have the power to direct the viewer’s eye as they follow the models gaze. This is known as ‘eye-tracking.’ You also have the power of facial expression on your side. This allows you to set the tone of your marketing campaign and allows for communication across language barriers.
Professional Printing Company South Africa
If you are looking to create a successful print campaign, the key lies in strategy and working alongside a professional printing company, a printing company that understands the entire process, from start to finish. Jetline offers design, printing services, brand management, and digital marketing solutions to ensure that your brand gains maximum reach!
Contact us today for all your printing, design, brand management and online solutions!
