Stand out. Simple examples.

One of the roles of graphic design is to help you stand out. Whether it’s your brand, your message, your marketing collateral, your image…Whatever it is, if ‘it’ doesn’t stand out from your competition and the surrounding environment it is unlikely to do as good a job as it ought to.

Which is where graphic design comes in. Good graphic design helps you get noticed.

Below are just a few very, very simple examples of how changing one or two small things can have a significant difference. It’s a very basic example. There’s nothing very scientific about it. Yet reflects some very important points that are worth remembering when considering all your marketing communications.

• You’re talking to human beings.
• We respond to visual cues (and audio, etc depending upon the environment).
• We’re emotional.
• We can be impulsive.
• We can be put off something just as quickly as we can be turned on by something.

Hopefully these simple examples help highlight the key point. If you don’t do anything differently to your competitors, or do something significant in how you approach your graphic design and marketing, then you will simply blend in. (Just like the first of the below grids.)

As you skim over each of the below, think to yourself ‘What did I see straight away? What caught my eye? Whichever of the ‘pick me’s stood out, did it stand out more or less successfully than the previous one?’

Clearly, in reality, we need to a lot more than just stand out. We must provide good reason for someone to pay further attention, to listen more to what we have to say, we have to provide proof and reassurance, etc. The below are hence simple examples to help get you thinking…