In the real world, most people judge a book by its cover, despite if it’s right or not. This is because most people will only briefly encounter the new experiences, situations and people they encounter each day. When considering this, you start to understand why building advertising and other creative content to be as attention grabbing as possible is essential to that content’s success.
Whether you are prepping a promotional video, photography, informative text, infographics, diagrams or some other form of content, it is of the utmost importance that you grab your intended spectator’s attention immediately. Many professional degrees and career paths focus entirely on understanding how to create this effect.
In this article, you will learn three essential elements for creating engaging, eye-catching content for your business or personal needs. If you follow these instructions and incorporate their teachings into your content, you can be assured you will start garnering more attention for your efforts.
1. Visibility
While subdued, transparent, or minimalized text or graphics can look aesthetically pleasing, it is more fit for the art world than it is for promotional content. Keeping the information you want to deliver large enough for any spectator to see, even at a glance, helps to ensure that your message reaches your audience. Some authorities in the design world call this element the “readable text” rule.
One good rule to follow when planning this is to make the primary image or text takes up at least half of the overall image. For even more effective design, three-fourths can provide a good scale up for increased visibility.
Font choice is also important when considering your content’s visibility. Always go with a font that is simple, and legible, while still maintaining a stylistic flourish. Both Helvetica and Ariel fonts can provide a good option when considering your content’s visibility. Avoid any overly stylized fonts that force the audience to squint their eyes in order to read.
2. Consistent and Complementary Color Scheme
This element can be particularly important when designing web pages and photography intended to have an attention grabbing effect. By keeping the color choices in your content both consistent and complementary to what you are presenting, you can achieve a larger impact that more quickly communicates your desired ideas.
For attention grabbing content, complementary colors provide the safest and often most effective color scheme route. Complementary colors are those colors that are opposite one another on the color wheel. When placed next to each other they often create bold and drastic contrasts that naturally draw the eye. This high contrast allows the image to stand out against almost any background, exterior or interior.
Using a complementary color scheme can also give your content the advantage of color association. When your audience sees those colors in the near future, they will likely be drawn back to their memories of the intense contrast that they saw in your content. In this way using a complementary color scheme also helps you increase your content’s visibility.
3. Have a Clear Message and Point of View
Beyond simple visual visibility, you want the message you are trying to communicate to be crystal clear upon a quick glance. With the sheer amount of advertising and content we are bombarded with day after day, only the most impactful and clear messages tend to stick.
Due to this, it is important to sit down and find the core of your message before beginning to design your content. This way the style, color choice, text usage, and aesthetics of your content can stem from that message. Doing this will save you hours of frustration, in the long run, so doing this is highly recommended.
For example, if you were creating content meant to communicate the hazards of smoking, you might want to consider what images portray that message the quickest. An image of an infected lung next to a smoker would certainly communicate the message immediately, but more subtle approaches can work just as well.
Most important to avoid is the temptation to base your message in a lengthy sentence. If you want text to provide the primary visual and impact of your content, follow the same rule as you would when choosing images, and find a short and impactful combination that works with maximum effectiveness. Using the example of smoking once again, you could use a simple slogan such as “SMOKING KILLS,” and bold capital letters.
These are three of the most immediate elements that will make or break your content’s ability to quickly catch eyes and deliver its message. In addition to these, there are many other elements that can be incorporated into your content to help you lock down that perfect design. Advertising and web design blogs that focus on design can be particularly helpful when researching different approaches.
By following this advice, you will be sure to save yourself hours of frustration and redrafting. With the sometimes costly fees one faces while distributing their content, you want to make sure your content’s design is worth the investment.
