The Importance of Visual Communication
Who are we? Are we our jobs? Are we the products we buy? Most would answer,”no”. But what about a company? Is it more important to ask what a company is, or who a company is?
More and more in today’s ever changing, highly visual world, the who of a company is as important as what that company produces. Through visual communication, a company’s brand or message is conveyed to the viewer and etablishes an emotional connection to the company and its product before anything else is known about the company.
At its core, every company must establish its values. Establishing the values of an organization and how the spirit of those values are communicated often paves the way for either success or failure. A good business model helps too.
But how can you see a company’s values, or get a sense of the company without even knowing what it does or what it produces? The answer is, again, through visual communication.
In order to create a stronger position for any business, we take a mutli-phased approach to the creation of a focused visual communication systm that better defines the company and establishes a stronger market position:
Phase I – Comprehensive BrandingThis is the first most important step in any organizations journey to better define who they are.
By creating greater company definition through the development of brand values, the subsequent visual elements of a company (the logo or mark, font selections, color palette/choices, imagery, shapes a company uses in their designs, etc.) reach out to the world and immediately begin to subconsciously establish an audiences perception of that company and its values.
Once the visual communication rules of a strong brand strategy based on core values have been established, they need to be applied to every aspect of the company (business cards, letterhead, stationary, envelopes, invoices, vehicles, uniforms, multimedia marketing material, training manuals, annual reports, websites, applications etc.).
Phase II – Cohesive Supplemental and Collateral Design
From the Brand Establishment in Phase I, all of the existing collateral and marketing materials need to be updated to reflect the new look and definition of the company. The printed material is created in this phase (signage, environmental design elements, print collateral, print marketing, etc.) so a strong informational base is created to support subsequent development phases.
Phase III -Unified Interactive/Digital Brand Representation.
Here is where the first 2 phases come to life. Through a company’s visual language (website, interactive marketing tools, micro-sites to highlight new service offerings, etc). the world gets a comprehensive view of a company’s brand culture and core values. By developing a system where each phase of the visual communication process works in concert to support each subsequent developmental phase, a strong network of elements are created so the company can more efficiently, more effectively, and with greater understanding become an active participant of that culture and ultimately a stronger competitor in the market.
Lastly, as the company grows its marketing and branding effort need to grow and adapt with it.
Phase IV -Continued Market Growth and Brand Development.
A brand is as much a living thing as anything. Without attention and upkeep it will fall into disrepair and ultimately perish. Also, with growth comes change, and both change and growth are a constants. If the brand values and visual communication systems are able to adapt and grow with a company, it will lay the ground work for perpetuating the success of a company.**