What are Aesthetics for?

Wait.

Before you answer that question, let's play a game (inspired by something I saw a few years back from Chris Do).

Check out the visual below, and tell me:

Which sells the vegan-friendly skincare products?

And how about the next visual:

Which sells the artisan, single-origin coffee?

And finally, of the options below:

Which sells the sparkling orange with natural ingredients only?

I'm guessing you answered those questions pretty quickly based on the information presented.

But look again, and you’ll notice that each comparison had:

• The same brand name
• The same marketing copy

Any judgment you made was based on visual communication alone.

And here's what that tells us:

Aesthetics are visceral messages

If we're talking about positioning, aesthetics act as the very first message you communicate with a prospect.

And, if your aesthetics don't align with the message you want to communicate, every other element of your marketing is redundant.

Prospects, the ones you want to work with, don't stop to check you out because your visual identity didn't align with the type of company they're looking to work with.

“People are stimulus rich but context poor. They don't know what it all means. They don't know where to focus their gaze.” Dan Pink

In a world where we're overwhelmed by noise, where prospects no longer exert anything beyond light effort to find what they're looking for, aesthetics are more important than ever.

What do your brand aesthetics tell us about you?