Back by popular demand,
By Matt Cave
Let's face it, we judge books by their covers—contrary to what our moms have always tried to teach us. We form first impressions in the time it takes to blink our eyes. It's human nature to meet someone for the first time and form an unshakable opinion about them before any words have been exchanged at all.
A study conducted in 1973 proved that 93% of communication is nonverbal—not what we say, but how we say it. Prove it to yourself by thinking about how much information you can read from a person's nonverbal behaviors such as body language, eye contact, facial expressions, clothing, and hairstyle—their "visual voice."
We subconsciously practice nonverbal communication every day and most of us aren't even aware of it. Now consider the visual communication potential of your brand's packaging. What is that packaging it communicating to shoppers in the blink of an eye? Is it telling the visual story of your brand's promise? Is it saying "Delicious!"? Is it softly whispering or obnoxiously shouting? Is it communicating premium or ultra-premium? ...cold and corporate? ...warm and inviting?
And almost as importantly: What are the visual voices of your competition saying in contrast to yours? There is no better time than right now for you to gain a better understanding of what designers have known intuitively for decades—that visual communication is the single most powerful form of communication. There are two key reasons why the time is right for you to fine tune the visual voice of your packaging: 1) our culture of abundance, and 2) information overload.
Our culture of abundance
In his book The Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink brings to our attention that we live in such an era of abundance that self-storage has become a $17 billion annual industry in the U.S. "What's more," notes Pink, "the industry is growing at an even faster rate in other countries." Pink goes on to say that prosperity might favor less rational sensibilities like beauty, spirituality, and emotion. "It's no longer sufficient to create a product, service, experience, or lifestyle that's merely functional," says Pink. "Today it's economically crucial and personally rewarding to create something that is also beautiful, whimsical, or emotionally engaging."
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