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Communicating in a clear and engaging way should always be our goal as communicators. The challenge, of course, is to make highly complex subjects interesting. Good graphic design helps immensely. In fact, good design can make your content make sense!

When hundreds of messages are vying for a reader’s attention at any given time, good design can attract attention to your product or service, particularly if your campaign is clever and creative. Design that is applied consistently can become increasingly recognizable to your readers’ and help in delivering on your brand’s promise. And, good design can keep a reader’s attention – even when the subject matter is highly complex.

At least three design components will contribute to communicating successfully:

A creative theme
that is applied consistently
using proven design elements

1)    Creative theme: Most marketing programs, products or services will require a theme. Resist any urge to fast track the creative process for program themes. Research and background information will aid the creative process. Have clarity regarding project objectives. You may also want to consider testing themes with focus groups.

2)    Consistent application: A theme that is applied consistently can become increasingly recognizable. Readers’ may come to rely on what your communication vehicles promise to deliver which can add to your company’s credibility too. Consistency in design will be increasingly important for any communication program using electronic marketing tools like social media websites. For example, consider how Facebook – originally a platform for sharing personal information – is now being used by businesses as a promotional tool.

3)    Design elements: It takes creativity and a keen eye to make complex material understandable. Having writers and designers with experience in your subject matter on your team can also help streamline the complexity of projects. Some favourite and common design elements include: use of colour, callouts or sidebars, captions, illustrations, photography, choice of typography, charts or graphs, professional formatting and white space.

Communicating pensions, pipelines or printers? Make it a goal to make your content make sense!

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