The pandemic has been the major disruptor of everything in 2020. The world stopped and suddenly adapted to a setting that no one had the time to prepare for. Lockdowns, working from home, practicing physical distancing, and shutting down social events made people turn into their gadgets for relief and entertainment. Everything has gone online.
Whether it would be for video games, online selling, social media, websites, and other digital content, visual design is relevant now and will still be making waves in the post-pandemic world. Here are some of the reasons why:
Visual design makes the first impression
Compared to written content, it is the graphic design that gets a person’s attention. Creating eye-catching visuals has become the greatest challenge for artists during this time. Since everything is now online, people’s attention span has become even shorter than ever. They can easily browse through what they see on the internet and completely forget those that did not catch their eye.
Everything online is fast-moving and the competition has become more difficult. Businesses have to make a good impression for them to make a mark. Design is the first thing that people see. They notice colors, fonts, unique elements, and other artistic stuff. Together with a good written content which is only secondary, visual design should be the top priority.
Good designs can be used long-term
Designing is a tedious process especially if you want to produce something good. Aside from squeezing the creative juices that designers need to transform their visions and ideas into digital art, you will go through a lot of revisions and will need a keen eye even for the smallest detail. But the good thing about this is that once you get the right look and feel to get your message across, you can use these as templates for your other content. Colors, fonts, and other elements can be used to maintain consistency.
This is useful especially if you are building your brand book and would like to keep the same designs forever, until the time you feel the need to do a rebranding. With the pandemic in mind, most companies and businesses adjusted their design to match the challenging times. They veered away from their usual content to make way for pandemic-related visuals that are more relevant. So until the global health crisis ends, these types of design that help people are here to stay.
Great designs set you apart from competitors
The best part about having great designs is the fact that people start to associate them to your brand or business. As mentioned, your templates can be used for a very long time. There is no need to rebrand frequently and risk losing your identity.
One example of rising above the competition during this time of pandemic is what online sellers do. With people being stuck at home, many ventured into small businesses. Similar products and services came out like mushrooms. Those who invested in nice logos, amazing product photos, and consistent graphic design became more popular faster than others who did not.
High-quality graphics show professionalism
The pandemic has heightened the people’s awareness of what is true and what is not. They can easily tell what website or social media profile to trust based on how their visuals look like. As simple as proper usage of fonts and colors will not escape the scrutiny.
Using the same example of businesses that venture into selling similar products on social media, good graphics can attract customers. It has been proven time and time again that consumers go for products and services that are visually appealing. The more enticing design, the more chances that they will go for it. Other businesses often level up their game by creating simple animations or complex videos.
Having a high-quality design makes a business look credible and trustworthy. Now that most companies have undergone or are currently undergoing digital transformation due to the pandemic, they are most likely to partner with digital experts who show off great designs. In this case, the homepage of a website should be able to capture clients with just one look. Aside from great content, the web design must showcase professionalism.
Design tells the story visually
The popularity of infographics has been on the rise. According to a commentary, the pandemic has accelerated the transition of visual design to be more data-driven. It just doesn’t transform words, thoughts, and ideas into something artistically appealing, it also interprets data and statistics in an easy-to-understand visual. These types of data and information must be accurate and direct to provide people the things they need to know.
Using design to spread hope and optimism
Let us not forget that visual design is a vital tool for communication. Businesses and organizations can easily relay messages and information to people. In fact, there are some social media pages that invest in storytelling using artistic and creative illustrations aimed at showing the brighter side of the internet. Great examples of designing positively in a time of crisis include those that give hope to anxiety-ridden communities, and visual content that comforts and instructs people on what to do at a time like this.
Hope, happiness, and health are the most important things in life right now. Since people are spending most of the time online, seeing optimistic visuals such as bright colors, positive elements, and happy symbolisms can inspire them to hold on despite the scary times. This becomes an advocacy and responsibility for designers, to spread goodness and combat negativity caused by the pandemic.
Final Thoughts
We all know the importance of visual design in the digital world. The pandemic just highlighted its business value more than ever. But we should not worry because designers are creative problem solvers. It is in their nature to present artistic solutions to different challenges such as the effects of the pandemic. Visual design has the biggest role to play and can make a huge impact during this time and beyond.