VISUAL DESIGN STYLE

In The Devil Wears Prada, Meryl Streep tells her young assistant that she has no style. Ouch! What precisely is Ms. Streep’s character looking for? Rightly or wrongly, she obviously wants to see more flair and visual appeal. For her, there is something missing that enhances desirability. This would seem to be the core issue for any designer or visual design style, whether on the web, in photography, in packaging, and beyond, i.e., how to enhance desirability by appealing to our aesthetic sense and our emotions

Creating desirability varies across media and depends on the purpose and content of the piece. If we compare a few websites, we find differences in design style depending on their purpose and how market-driven they are. On Apple’s website, they open immediately and effectively with "hot news"--a montage of film clips that contains famous "hello's" from the movies to introduce their new iPhone. (By the time you read this, however, it may have been changed to something else, but it was great)! It would seem that the montage was timed to coincide with the 79th Annual Academy Awards, and it worked beautifully on TV in the days leading up to the show and even thereafter. The advertisement is simple, classic, engaging, entertaining and effective, and this seems to be Apple’s trademark design style from their unmistakable and memorable logo to their elegant video, print and web advertisements. We are intrigued and pulled in. Maybe we’ll even buy some of their attractively designed items. Contrast this with Bank of America’s website. Their logo, too, is well-known, uses the American colors, and appears throughout. On their websites, both Apple and Bank of America make good use of redundancy to give context and order to complex information. The websites are readable, uncluttered and useable, but we expect a more sedate image and design style from a bank, and we get it, which is probably intended to give a feeling of stability (even as banks routinely gobble each other up)! The bank’s website is also more task-driven. Many users are simply doing their online banking, not looking for fashion, attractive electronics, or entertainment.

In a bit of a different vein, the U.S. World Wildlife Federation website is also well-known and attractive. It has great deal of text. The text imparts a serious tone, and supplies much information that those attracted to the cause will likely get through. If they don’t, there are other interesting pages to scan or read more thoroughly, including a fun and games page. The panda logo appears on every page, and each is filled with beautiful photos—no video. The WWF design style is simple, serious, and attractive, and their website is very easily navigable and eminently useable. The elegance and sex appeal we get from Apple is not called for here, and would probably be counterproductive. Nonetheless, WWF is certainly marketing itself with their design style, albeit quite differently than Apple or the bank.

By developing and applying a recognizable design style, a company or visual artist makes themselves known, often with few words or no words at all. Thus, they maintain and attract the attention of their existing audience, and by repetition and variations on the theme, they can grow their base--especially if quality products are behind the visuals!