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Building a brand is a lot more about telling a story than just telling your audience about your business. It involves crafting a narrative that your audience can relate to emotionally. That’s what it takes to create genuine bonding with your audience and build brand loyalty.
The written word, of course, is also of great importance. But it’s the visuals that pour life into those words and impact every viewer. That is exactly when graphic designers come into play. When brands decide to hire a graphic designer, they ensure that the individual is a good storyteller as well.
The candidate must be able to resonate and align with the brand’s vision. That genuine faith in the brand is what leads them to create truly impactful visuals that do wonders.
The Art of Storytelling in Branding
Storytelling was one of the very first art forms humankind ever learned. It has its roots way too deep down the human history. Even today, it is a powerful tool to communicate a brand’s ideology effectively.
The story and how it’s told – that’s what brings out the brand’s ethos, values, and vision to the audience. But why is storytelling so crucial for building a brand? The answer is – the basic fabric of a human being. Emotions.
We humans are all about emotions and we’re full of them. Stories have this wonderful ability to invoke various emotions in us. It could be happiness, sorrow, excitement, or even nostalgia.
That is exactly what we mean when we say brands tell stories, not just share information. This is how brands build an emotional connection with their audiences. This connection results in increased trust, loyalty, and recall. When done right, this converts your customers into your brand advocates for the rest.
Apart from this, it also helps to have a strong storytelling approach in a world flooded with mediocre ads and promotional content.
Graphic Design: The Visual Medium of Brand Stories
Graphic design is at the core of visual storytelling. Words tell you a tale. But visuals can bring them to life. So in a way, designers are carriers of the brand’s true emotions to their customers.
They use colors, typography, and layouts to show emotions, values, and messages. For example, a brand that promotes sustainability could use green and earthy colors. It could have images of nature to connect it to eco-friendliness.
Using various infographics, icons, and diagrams can help simplify complex ideas. Every decision that the designer makes from fonts to elements, affects the outcome. Every little detail matters when it’s about telling the brand’s story.
Ways Graphic Designers Enhance Brand Storytelling
Graphic designers are the ones who craft the narrative for the brand. Their skills allow the stories to be told more effectively with captivating visuals. Here’s how they make a brand’s storytelling better:
Infographics:
An average user’s attention span has been on the decline in recent years. Infographics are a boon at a time like this.
They present the most complex data in a simplified manner and make it more appealing. They contain a mix of small texts, icons, and images that convey the data. They come across as both, intriguing and informative.
Brand Logos:
When you see a half-eaten apple or a bright yellow ‘M’ somewhere, what are the chances that you’d fail to recognize them?
Absolutely zero! Right? That’s because these logos are iconic and hence, are more than just logos. They tell a story.
A great logo would encapsulate a brand’s ethos, values, and origin. It’s literally a sign of everything the brand stands for. It’s the graphic designers who visualize and create those wonderful and impactful logos.
Can you imagine what the graphic designer who designed the Apple logo would’ve been thinking when he designed it?
Ad Campaigns:
Logos are present. Ad campaigns are memory.
Graphic designers can craft some powerful visuals for ad campaigns that resonate with the target audience. Some of history’s most iconic ad campaigns are fresh in people’s minds even today due to the impact they left. Can you think of any such ad campaigns that you saw in your childhood and stayed in your memory forever?
Website Design:
The website is a brand’s face in the digital world. With thoughtful design strategies, graphic designers can enhance a user’s online journey. They can guide the surfing users through the entire journey of the brand.
They can tell users everything about the brand without them realizing it. Hence, the user enjoys the overall flow in the experience of surfing the website.
Social Media Graphics:
Content is the king. You must’ve come across this quite a lot in the digital world. But in the age of social media, it’s the engagement who is the king.
Social media almost demands extraordinary visuals that can capture users’ attention. Catching them while they’re scrolling through the feed is a pivotal and difficult job. The graphic designers create the visuals and elements that make it happen.
Challenges in Merging Creativity with Brand Narratives
Trying to mix creativity with a brand’s narratives can be tough. But with the help of designers, the right balance between creativity and the brand’s messaging can be achieved. Additionally, ensuring that the design of the brand aligns with its vision and tone is also a vital skill.
Why Brands Choose to Hire Graphic Designers for Storytelling
Brands choose to hire graphic designers owing to their ability to weave impactful visuals around a narrative. Professional graphic designers carry a good understanding of their target audience. They can use the brand’s elements to hit the bull’s eye and leave an impact. Perhaps that’s why they prefer calling themselves artists more than corporate professionals!
They play a vital role in helping the brand tell stories that can reach more and more audiences and resonate with them. With their help, brands can connect with their audiences in an effective manner. Not only that, this helps them gain a competitive advantage as well.
