Simplicity in Design
October 22, 2020
The simplest design is often the most effective. In order to achieve simplicity in design, know thy consumer! Understand their goals. Keep it clean. However well-intentioned, when the non-essential details end up on your final design, the consumer may interpret those bells and whistles as distracting. How do we keep eyes on the prize? Highlight the innovative peak benefits of the product while cutting through the noisy clutter of the competition? Lead with the essentials, edit, refine, test, edit again. Discover fresh techniques to light up shelves and screens with concise precision.
Strategy 1: Laser Focus. Hopefully, the brand team has hacked into the target’s personal agreement that a need must be met and managed. Eliminate less important features and factoids. Your product wins by being clear and decisive.
Strategy 2: Weigh the value of visual and verbal content? Is your creative leading your target to your product or muddling the message?
Strategy 3: Mind the gap. Between the designer’s creation and the consumer’s experience lies a vast space known as the “Gulf of Execution”. In other words, identify any gaps between the designer’s interpretation of the brand strategy and the consumer’s experience of the final product. As long as the ocular appeal of the product aligns with what the buyer craves psychologically, that gulf narrows and loyalty develops.
Strategy 4: Think function-forward. Pretty graphic design does not equal strategic packaging. Design is functional. Does the aesthetic deliver the message?