Visual language

Social images, everything covered!

They say that a ‚’A picture is worth a thousand words’

So why doesn’t everyone take advantage?

Aristotle often said: ‚ ‘It is impossible to think without images’.

Just think, how much of your lifetime you daydream, even simply imagining what the sofa looks like in the other corner of the room if not a more elaborate dreamscape. We are wired for visuals. For what is written language really? A collection of symbols arranged in a way that we have been trained to recognise. One of the techniques for remembering long lists is the ‚ ‘Journey System’ in which you visualise landmarks and an accompanying story. So why not put your brand into someone’s story?

Studies have shown that you can say so much more, faster with visuals. This seems obvious when you think about it.

It only takes us 150ms for a symbol to be processed + 100ms to attach a meaning to it.

We understand visuals faster because they affect us both cognitively and emotionally. Visual clues not only assist our understanding of a subject, for example an origami tutorial, imagine how much easier it is to follow the instructions to make a crane with images rather than solely text!? Images tend to evoke an emotional response, we will automatically process an image to see if it connects with anything in our memory, if so we will undoubtedly create a further connection, if not, we will accept that it doesn’t relate to us. We can use images to grab attention or calm moods.

Images are also remembered for longer:

“Words are processed by our short-term memory where we can only retain about 7 bits of information (plus or minus 2). Images, on the other hand, go directly into longterm memory where they are indelibly etched. РLynell Burmark, Ph.D.

We look back at childhood photos to see grinning faces in the sunshine; young, careless, free. Clever brands know that we do this.

Marketing yourself to the masses simply won’t be as fruitful as perhaps it once was, the bar for competition has been raised. In such a personalised and digital age with very little free time, you need to hone in on your target audience. This is why the visuals are so important. For example, the best selling brands are creating a lifestyle around them, so much so that the target audience crave that lifestyle, or even better they visualise themselves there, they see those happy grinning faces in the sunshine. Do you see what I mean?