I saw this today and couldn’t hold myself to write something about it because it’s 100% true. It applies to all levels of design, and it is something I pay high importance to in my web design and graphic design projects at every level.
 
The power of HIERARCHY in design is so important and one of the main reasons for UNSUCCESSFUL websites, ads, flyers, posters and all marketing materials.
 
Visual Hierarchy is defined as: the arrangement of graphic elements in a design in order of importance of each element. The visual weight defines the importance of an element in a design’s hierarchy, communicating to a viewer’s eyes what to focus on and in what order.
 
It makes a night and day difference when you get a professional to design your marketing materials. It helps your business or product stand out bust most of all convert. It also helps deliver a consistent and positive business image to your customers. A professional designer’s brain and eyes have been trained to solve visual problems and arrange elements in a way that will deliver results and be aesthetically pleasing to the viewer. It’s not the tools but the knowledge that makes the difference.
 
The picture above speaks for itself. Just like I did, I’m sure you also found yourself reading the lines in the order described in the picture and that is the power of HIERARCHY.
 
REMEMBER THESE POINTS IN DESIGN HIERARCHY:
1. Size does matter – People read bigger things first and that is your main chance to catch a reader’s attention.
2. Elements need room to breathe – When there’s too much going on it will make your message very hard to read. It will distract the viewer and most of all make them keep scrolling or click off.
3. Less is more – Most people have short attention spans. It’s only a very few seconds from the initial view that you have to capture a reader’s attention and make them want to read/inform themselves more about your business/product.
4. Typeface weight and pairings is oh so important – A successful font pairing and weight will be the main tool to help you deliver a clear message. The wrong choices can completely void your goal.
5. Less is more – The more elements, text, logos, and pictures that you feel that you need to deliver a clear message will actually do the opposite and make for a very hard to read and unsuccessful design.
 
There are many more things I can describe but the above just hit me after seeing the picture in the post. Mainly because I often see the 5 points above missed either by amateur designers or by a client when they try to be their own designer. The result is always the same, unsuccessful, hard to read designs that end up without purpose and miss the main goal: to engage a reader and capture their attention to make them want to read more, click the link, buy the product, visit the site, etc.,
 
Lastly, I want to leave you with something I heard on a podcast I follow, “DESIGN IS AN INVESTMENT, NOT AN EXPENSE.”
 
Let’s define INVESTMENT: spending money or capital in order to gain profitable returns. In other words, when you spend money on marketing, what do you expect to get in return? You’re most likely thinking of short-term goals such as immediate sales, new customers, signups, etc. But if you think about long-term goals, it will lead to brand awareness/recognition. The point is, that you spend money (as in an investment) in order to get something in return. You don’t spend money on a logo or website simply because it makes you feel good. No, you invest money on it because it’s going to persuade more customers and the cost of getting the design professionally done and developed will pale in comparison to the benefits of getting a number of new customers through the door.
Yes, you can get websites, logos, and/or marketing materials designed for cheap or even free if you do them yourself. But believe me, it will make a world of difference if you’re willing to INVEST in a professional to deliver something that will help move your business/product forward.