Abstract
A Company website has to have a strong conveyance of message so as to elicit interest from possible clients. This paper seeks to explain the impact of visuals in building a better face image of an organization on an online platform. In doing so, it would be beneficial to talk about the different types of visual design such as graphics, and images. The importance of each visual design is significant enough in delivering concise information and a mental picture and therefore serves the end purpose effectively. However, caution is taken to ensure that the visual information is appropriate to the target market segment and relevant enough to allow them to relate to the company.
Introduction
As the world continues to be a global village by embracing the internet, so is the business world. To do so, companies must strategize effectively how to create a highly effective company websites. Company websites are usually the first image about a company that many people see and great measures have to be taken to create interest in them. The concept of the first impression is very important because it is usually difficult to change impressions ones they are ingrained in people’s brains. The theoretical concept of visual literacy, perception, visual marketing, and branding and social media theories all play a role in creating an effective visual image (Visual communication: Images with messages, 2003).
Three important media elements have to feature greatly in the website; these are graphics, photos, and videos. These media communicate more than words could do and allow the viewer to decode the information on their own way which facilitates the creation of a mentally lasting impression. These media elements substitute each other, and they are therefore important in their unique way depending on the purpose they are intended to serve.
The purpose of the media elements is guided by the various rationale each element possess.
Rationale behind choosing each of the three media elements
A media element is an avenue of delivering a message in a clear and concise manner that avoids jargon and capitalizes on building clear mental images (Bergström, 2008).Communication is hence simplified and made relevant by media elements. This is because the sense of seeing is one of the most effective ways of stimulating the brain to form perceptions by interpreting impressions. Graphics, photos, and videos are the main media elements that can be used in creating a company website.
Graphics are visual images or designs on some surface such as a screen or paper, and they serve to inform, illustrate, or entertain. Eisend, Langner, and Okazaki (2012) illustrated that, in contemporary usage, it includes the pictorial representation of data. Images generated by a computer are called computer graphics. In this case of the company website, then graphics like drawings, Line art, graphs, diagrams, symbols, geometric designs, maps, or other images are an effective avenue for creating mental images. Bergström (2008) wrote that text, illustration, and color are of utmost importance because they help in creating emphasis. Clarity or effective communications are the objectives, and they are achieved through styling.
The figure below represents a representation of a graphic for an American airline showcasing their services, apart from being colorful, it is entertaining.
Source: https://www.americanairlines.org/graphics
Photos are images created on digital surfaces through capturing of a focused event by a camera. Photos serve to capture history and by doing so relay a memorable situation to a mental image of the brain. Photos capture the moments and consequently enable the preservation and remembrance of past events.
The photo below can be used by a tours and travel business that seeks to capture a live event and advertise their adventure services.
Source: https://www.americantours.net/ grand canyon/visit
Finally, the other media element that can be discussed is the video. The difference between photos and videos is that the videos capture live events while photos capture stationary events. A video with the highest quality is the most effective in communication.
Relationship of the concepts to the media elements
The media elements discussed above have a very strong relationship to the media theoretical concepts such as visual literacy, perception, visual marketing, and branding and social media.
Graphs also serve as a representation of a phenomenon in a clear way, e.g. a graph of the growth of a company's turnover in a time series will showcase the company as a success and attract investors. Photos, on the other hand, serve the same purpose of the other media elements, and they can be easily recognized therefore easy to visualize and hence create a strong visual literacy. Ryan (2012) adds that visual literacy, therefore, serves a purpose of universal language that can be understood by people of diverse characteristics in a uniform way.
Friedman (2010) argues that perception is a theoretical concept that has a relationship with the media elements. It is the way a person knows about something based on what they sensed and in this case, the sense is seeing. Ryan (2012) adds that visual literacy leads to perception because what a person understands from visual images is what forms part of their perceptions. For instance, when a photo about an elaborate gown appears on a fashion design company website, a consumer's visual literacy will enable them to know that the company produces gowns. From the attractiveness of the photo and the taste they have, they will have perceptions about the product, and this may determine their future course of action. On the other hand, Friedman (2010) explains that graphs enable investors to have a perception about a particular company they want to invest in by relaying as much information as possible to enable the formation of comprehensive and complete analysis of company portfolios. This is the basis for perception creation.
The other concept is visual marketing. This is the act of bringing to attention existence of a product to potential customers. Photos on a company website are ‘worth a thousand words' as it is popularly said. If a company is a manufacturing one, for instance, there can be photos of the products on the online website and based on the nature of the products and the authenticity of the photos, a very effective marketing strategy is usually enhanced. Advertisements in the form of videos have been the perfect tool for marketing for a very long time in the world, and putting them on a website page of a company will be a sure way of creating a market by eliciting interest through emotional appeal (Bergström, 2008).
The social media is the use of the internet to create information, exchange ideas, sensitize issues and exchange knowledge. The social media is, therefore, crucial in communication because it is very effective in relaying the various media elements to the specific online human traffic. As human beings continue to increasingly use social media platforms, companies are turning to creating web pages on the various social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Putting up the aforementioned media elements like videos, photos and graphs serve to create visual images, visual market creating perceptions and enable proper branding of the company’s line of production, be it goods or services.
Storytelling is defined as the act of narrating an event to an individual. According to Ryan (2012), this theory serves as a good communication strategy as it enables the persons addressed to be excited in the message and pay attention so as to be entertained and by so doing, identify with the message. It is human nature to love entertainment, and the particularly discussed media elements have perfected this art. A video, for instance, is narrative in nature; a photo reminds of a past memorable event, and graphic captures the whole picture in an exciting way, all these is storytelling.
According to Eisend et al. (2012), graphs, photos and videos capture attentions because human beings are visual in nature. They appeal to emotions by creating visual literacy and perceptions. They entertain by showing past events without forcing attention from the clients. They also save on company's website space by eliminating the use of many words to explain the concepts. Therefore, they are easy to be comprehended.
Intent of the message
The main intent of this message is to assist companies to create efficient websites with minimum wording and effective media elements that are informative to clients and beneficial to them as business entities. Sensitizing the attachment of great videos, inspiring pictures and elaborate graphs on a company’s websites will enable marketing of products and services to take place on a costless way.
Conclusion
Communication is vital in business. The perfect media for communication that should be widely utilized is the use of photos, videos, and graphs. If a company has an online website, it would be important to avoid a lot of wording and instead, concentrate on the creation of these media elements which serve the purposes of visual literacy, perception generation, visual marketing, branding and social media advertisement. The benefits of visuals in communication should drive every entity to visual communication.
References
Bergström, B. (2008). Essentials of visual communication. London: Laurence King Pub.
Branding. (2008). New York: Graphis Inc.
Eisend, M., Langner, T., & Okazaki, S. (2012). Advances in advertising research (Vol. III): Current insights and future trends. Wiesbaden: Springer Gabler.
Friedman, K. (2010). Shut up and say something: Business communication strategies to overcome challenges and influence listeners. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Ryan, W. (2012). Visual literacy: learning to see. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
Visual communication: Images with messages. (2003). United States: WADSWORTH Pub. CO (CA.
https://www.americanairlines.org/graphics
https://www.americantours.net/ grand canyon/visit
