Visual language: the key to a strong brand identity

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Visual language is the power of visual communication and essential in a marketing strategy. In this article, you’ll discover how the use of visual language can strengthen your brand and differentiate you from others.

What is visual language?

Visual language is a way of communicating visually. Using compelling images gives meaning to what the viewer sees, but it can also evoke certain emotions or tell a story. In our fast-paced and visually oriented world, it has become an important part of the marketing strategy. Many strong brands have a clear, authentic visual language to be memorable and establish connections.

It makes the difference between being noticed or being ignored

Why is visual language necessary and why does it work?

  • Visuals capture attention
    Consumers respond to smart and carefully chosen visual elements. It makes the difference between being noticed or being ignored. An online advertisement with visually strong banners generates more clicks than a written item without any visuals. Included in these visual messages are for example video content, animations, graphics, and photography. Visuals play an important role in storytelling; it brings the brand story to life.
  • Visual language can create emotional connections
    The strategic application of strong visual language can evoke emotional associations in the viewer. This can contribute to establishing a strong brand identity or simply lead to a likeable association. If you want your brand to convey positivity and strength, you can achieve that by creating images that align with those attributes. An example of this is the well-known #Free Hugs campaign, where capturing people embracing each other created a sense of warmth and connection among viewers. In other words, people could identify with the desire for human contact.
  • Visual language clarifies complex information
    Visual language is an useful tool for clarifying complex information at a glance. Without visuals, the same information might be harder to understand. To make data comprehensible, an infographic with visual elements is ideal for quick and clear display. People simply prefer well-designed infographics over reading long paragraphs of text. Additionally, using illustrations in a unique (brand) style can make your brand highly recognizable.
  • Visual language for recognizability
    Visual elements are often the first things people remember: studies show that the human brain processes visual information up to 600,000 times faster than text. It truly ensures that a brand is recognizable to the audience and distinguishes itself from the competition. A logo is a good example of this, such as Nike’s campaign with the recognizable ‘swoosh’ logo and the slogan ‘Just do it’. Or the Apple logo. Who doesn’t know it?

Visual language in different media

The recognizability of visual language is reflected in various media. Because you maintain a consistent visual language across different channels. The effect of visual language can be seen in our cases for Allerhande and NS.

Social media platforms are largely driven by visuals and have a massive reach. They’re fast-paced platforms where your visual language needs to catch attention at a glance. A clear and distinct visual language can greatly help in this regard. Take the personalized approach of Coca Cola’s ‘Share a Coke’ campaign as an example. The bottles and cans were customized and adorned with ‘occasion slogans’ like ‘Best Dad Ever’. This generated significant engagement with the brand on social media and resulted in a frenzy to acquire the collection.

Our experts are happy to help

Would you like to learn more about the impact of visual language? Or do you need help creating a visual language for your brand? Matter’s experts are at your service. Contact:

Liane Lockhorn
Photo Director
+31 6 249 459 72
liane.lockhorn@mpg.today