“We eat first with our eyes,” according to Marcus Gavius Apicius, a First Century Roman famous in his time for his love of food (and authoring a cookbook). In fact, researchers long ago learned that our brains gain information about the foods we eat simply by looking at them. Color helps us perceive food quality and appeal before we ever take a bite.
Seeing something is a critical form of communication. For instance, how many of us won’t read past the first three words of a social post or spend more than about five seconds on a website, if it isn’t visually pleasing? Or, makes visual sense?
Communications professionals can spend an exorbitant amount of time on the written word, only to have it lost in a “C” of bad design, broken links, or images which fail to connect the subject matter to its physical representation.
The “C” of course, is a play on words. However, there are typically considered to be five forms of communication. The five “C’s.” And visual is a big one. Graphic design and content must co-exist in mutual harmony and balance if we want audiences to “see.” The fonts we chose, the photos we select, and even the background color we display can make an impact of what people chose to eat. Hopefully, if we get it right, our constituents will be back for seconds.
Categories: Consequence