Human beings are hardwired to receive and make sense of visual information, explains Nicky Pasquier
The purpose of this article is to help you understand why visual content is incredibly powerful so that you can create more effective graphics and presentations.
When I first started my embryonic business back in 2013, I was an absolute nothing; I was the tiniest and most insignificant little fish in a very large pond. It was purely by chance that I learnt very early on that the key to being seen and heard online is creating eye-catching visual content. It really did work.
What Is Visual Content?
Visual content includes anything from the large banners you see at the head of social media profiles to images in your social media feeds, fun GIF files, presentation slides, diagrams, charts, screenshots, infographics, and animations. Its use on social media platforms has grown rapidly since images first started to appear on Twitter around 2014.
Since then, there has been an explosion of new social media platforms which are based solely on sharing images and videos. Think about the exponential growth of platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest and, lately, TikTok.
There are some interesting psychological reasons why we love to share content on these platforms. According to a survey conducted by the New York Times this year, 94% of people said they did so to âinform, amuse and help the peopleâ.
The content we share also helps to define who we are, what we find interesting and what we care about. By sharing, we also nurture relationships and find other people with similar interests.
From a business point of view, visual content serves some even more interesting purposes.
I believe if you understand the âwhyâ of visual content, it will help you with the âhowâ when creating it.
Humans Crave Visual Content
Human beings are hardwired to receive and make sense of visual information at a speed that is 13x faster than blinking. The ability to do so has ensured our survival.
I recall an episode from Michael Portilloâs railway journey through Australia when he was taken to view some Aboriginal rock artwork, dating back 17,000 years. It was explained to him that Indigenous people used drawings such as these to explain where the best water and food supplies were. So early man was already using visuals to convey information!
Back in 2015, I saved this beautiful infographic from NeoMam Studios, which is still relevant and neatly explains why human beings are hardwired to consume visual content.
Take a look when you have time; itâs fascinating.
Understanding and Memory
Studies have found that people can remember 80% of the content theyâve seen compared with 20% theyâve read and just 10% of what theyâve heard.
(10 Reasons Why Visual Content Marketing Works â NeoMam Studios)
However, simply combining pictures with text increases memory retention and understanding by a further 55%.
No wonder, then, that infographics are shared more than any other piece of visual content. They can transform what would otherwise be rather dull and boring data into visually appealing, memorable graphics that people want to share.
Emotional Connections
Have you ever watched one of those heart-breaking TV adverts often shared by charities? They present you with images of children suffering from dreadful malnutrition, or of animals being mistreated. The videos end with an opportunity to donate money (a âcall to actionâ) via a website or text message to help relieve their suffering.
For those of you in the UK, we see this tactic being used every year on Red Nose Day, or Children in Need. Weâre shown some truly heart-rending images on the screen for a few minutes, followed by a âcall to actionâ to donate money. This year a total of ÂŁ42.79 million was raised!
Charities successfully use images, often in the form of video, to trigger emotional responses.
It works because visual memory is encoded in the same place where emotions are processed.
Clever, isnât it?
But the key is if a business understands how to use visual content to connect with its audience at an emotional level, it can almost certainly move them into taking the desired course of action. For that, the business really needs to know its audience very well.
Mobile Friendly
Over the past 10 years, life has become increasingly frenetic. Weâre constantly rushing here and there, to and from meetings, hot-desking, travelling, and working all hours. When it comes to consuming information, the last thing people want to be presented with is a wall of text.
Firstly, we generally donât have time to sit and read an entire article. Users have been found to read just 20% of a web page, for example.
Secondly, text on its own is just boring, isnât it? Iâd much rather look at an image or a video.
The third thing to consider is that, since weâre on the go so much of the time, we tend to use mobile devices to consume information.
In fact, you can see from the image from Oberlo below that 59.4% of all web traffic now comes through mobile phones compared with desktops.
So, visuals are well suited to our busy lifestyles. Theyâre easier to consume on the go via our smartphone devices, and quickly convey messages without the need for paragraphs of text.
Think about the recent explosion of vertical videos such as Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts and TikTok videos, which have all come about because of the increased use of smartphones.
When you put all this information together, you can see why more and more marketers are making visual content a priority.
Not only are visuals engaging and easy to digest, but theyâre also perfect vehicles for sending âbite-sizedâ messages that can be understood and remembered. Theyâre perfectly suited for viewing and sharing via our smartphone devices.
Visual Content for Business
When it comes to creating visual content for business, there are a couple of key things to remember.
Branding
Always maintain a consistent visual brand style. This means weaving your own brand colours, text, logo and even your brand personality into visual assets. Donât be tempted to chop and change these around, like I used to do. Iâm a sucker for beautiful fonts and I used to change them with the wind when I first started out.
To ensure that all your visual assets are always âon brandâ, set up your own brandâs visual style using Canvaâs brand kit. You will need Canva Pro to create a professional brand kit. If you donât already have a Pro account, feel free to test out all the premium features with a free 45-day trial. [Disclaimer: This is my Canva partner link, for which I receive a small financial bonus if you subscribe to Canva Pro after your free trial. You are under no obligation to use this link.]
Once you have your brand kit set up, youâll be able to upload your logo(s), save your brand colours and upload custom fonts, if necessary, so that theyâre all easily accessible from within a design.
Canva now allows you to create multiple brand kits, which is invaluable if you are a Virtual Assistant and work with different clients. Swap from brand kit to brand kit whilst designing with just one click of your mouse.
Images
Ensure that all the images you use are aligned with your brand personality (your marketing department will almost certainly help you with this if youâre unsure).
Also, ensure that images arenât blurred or pixelated; they need to be high resolution. High-res images tend to be large files, so if you need to compress them for use online, then Iâd highly recommend using Tiny.png, a free tool Iâve been using for years.
Visual content thatâs going to be shared on social media needs to be eye-catching enough to âstop the scrollâ!
With that in mind, use a relevant but arresting image that will initially grab attention. You might want to incorporate a little humour with your image, something strikingly beautiful (think exotic holiday destinations) or, dare I say it, something slightly shocking.
I donât advocate being rude, but sometimes being a little risky with your content can not only be rather funny, but also make it memorable (see below)! I discovered Jesse Desjardinsâ slide deck on SlideShare back in 2014 and Iâve always remembered it.
Once youâve chosen the correct image to use, youâll probably need to add some text overlay.
I donât recall who gave me this piece of advice years ago, but itâs incredibly helpful:
âImagine youâre speeding along a motorway. You see an advertising board and you have only seconds to read the message before itâs gone. The likelihood is that youâll only have time to see the main picture, a heading and possibly a bit of text underneath.â
This advice is so helpful when creating social media images, and also presentations.
The main heading or line of text should add context to any image you use and hold your audienceâs attention. Use 2 to 4 words, maximum.
If you have space underneath, add a further line of explainer text and, where relevant, include a call to action.
Refer to my graphic (a) below, by way of example.
Marrying text with images
Combining images with text can be tricky. Very often I see far too much text on a graphic, which is off-putting and runs the risk of losing an audienceâs attention immediately.
However, youâll not go wrong if you remember that, in design, less is more.
Donât be afraid to give the various elements, like text and pictures, space to breathe. Donât feel you need to cover every piece of white space available.
Try to use an image which has some âclean spaceâ on which to add text, like my graphic above (a).
If you have no choice but to use a rather busy picture, then use a text box, which will help the text stand out from the background (b).
Make the text âpopâ even more by adjusting the brightness or even blurring the background image a little.
Balance
A well-balanced graphic is key when it comes to design.
I quickly created the image below because it seemed the easiest way to show you how Iâve not only used the sky as a clear space on which to put some text, but also used the text to balance the overall composition of the image so that it isnât bottom heavy.
Itâs a neat little trick, itâs easily done, and it can make a graphic look much more professional.
All these effects can be easily achieved, of course, within Canva. If youâre not feeling terribly creative, then use one of the thousands of templates available in the Canva library. And if you regularly design presentations, Iâd highly recommend you take a look at Canvaâs new presentation layouts.
They will help you quickly build the âskeletonâ of a presentation using a selection of pre-formatted slide templates. You will also find that the text is the recommended size for each section, and image placeholders are in the best position.
All you have to do is flesh out the slides with your own content and change the branding using your brand kit. Perfect!
Summary
There is so much more that Iâd love to tell you about, including how to make compelling graphics and presentations using animations, transitions and video. Video is incredibly persuasive. In fact, according to Wordstream, âIncluding a video on your landing page can boost your conversion rate by up to 80%â.
Tools like Canva make incorporating videos into graphics and presentations easy. Itâs even possible to embed a YouTube video into a presentation.
I do hope this article has been interesting and has helped you understand why visual content is such a powerful marketing strategy. If there is anything youâd like to ask me, please donât hesitate to drop me an email; Iâm more than happy to help.
