Just like a book is often judged by its cover, print publications are also judged by whether they look professional, well designed and are visually and emotionally engaging. All good marketing managers worth their salt can tell you that both good graphic design and good content are intrinsically linked and support each other in driving human emotion and behaviour. As we all know its human behaviour that drives and affects everything we do from where we live, to what we buy and what we read.
It’s no surprise then that if you want to promote and increase the readership of your publication be it print or online you need both content and design to be well considered, impactful and to make an emotional connection with its reader.
A good example of this is the recent design refresh we did for the Prince of Wales “Saving Lives” Newsletter. Its tired and outdated layout and design were having a negative effect on readership. Its convoluted layout also greatly diminished the content’s effectiveness to connect with and inform its reader. The refreshed design took into consideration how best to both connect to its reader on an emotional level as well as inform readers and supporters of the good work the hospital is doing.
As well as helping a publication be more informative, good design can be very powerful and very persuasive. It takes a professional trained in design to understand how best to persuade users to engage with your publication in the way you want. This engagement can lead to the specific outcome you are aiming for, whether that’s brand awareness, raising your profile in the marketplace, educating your reader, or communicating your product or service’s benefits over competitors etc. A design agency has the skill set and resources to create a publication in line with your business objectives. A designer will take into consideration how your user will navigate and be lead through your content, how your user will make an emotional connection to your message through colour, imagery and layout. A designer will understand how to use white space to communicate a certain tone or feeling and how a stock choice like high gloss versus uncoated recycled paper speaks of a completely different target market and message. All of these design considerations will influence or motivate the user towards a certain outcome or purchase decision.
In the end, people aren’t buying your product or service, they are buying your story, an emotion and your values. Good design connects to the mind but great design connects to the heart, and it’s this heart connection that will inspire customer loyalty which in turn will increase readership and loyalty to your publication. So whether its a newsletter, an annual report, magazine, website, digital e blast or a simple flyer, employing a creative design agency or a professional graphic design team is going to help promote the readership and the loyalty towards both your marketing material and your brand.
Related Tag: Graphic Design Studio Sydney