Culturally, we’re constantly making decisions about what gets our attention. With so many things vying for our attention, we can be choosy, and we choose what appeals to us.
If you have a message you’re trying to communicate, and no one is paying attention, ask yourself whether you’ve delivered it in a way that you would pay attention to it.
The importance of visual appeal affects how we perceive something, how we act in response to something, and how we remember it (Usabilla, 2017). In short, when something is interesting, it holds the viewer’s attention longer, allowing more time for the desired message to communicate.
“Studies of eye-tracking have indicated that people spend more time soaking in the pictures, infographics and visual content on a site than they do reading the text.” Furthermore, the impact of video on a web experience can drive traffic up by 41%! (USA Today, 2017)
You’ve probably experienced the power of visual appeal throughout your work and personal life.
If you’ve ever literally judged a book by its cover, opted to create a chart instead of only delivering a spreadsheet, determined which piece of possible junk mail to open, clicked on a digital ad, or spent even a minute on the internet, you’ve seen the impact of what something visually interesting can do to your level of engagement.
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