Why Graphic Design Is Important: Why Visual Communication Matters

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say. But what if you have to bring across an idea or a message that’s not visual?

What if you have to convince the world of something that’s invisible? You need to use your words and sentences. Right? If this is the case, why do graphic designers play such an important role in our lives? What makes their skills and services so essential in this day and age?

After all, who cares about fancy logos and advertisements? The answer is: almost everyone. The world around us is filled with visual communication — advertisements, logos, posters, signage, packaging, websites, etc. These are all products of graphic design because they communicate ideas through visuals.


Why Is Visual Communication So Important?

Let’s take a quick look at the reasons why visual communication is so important. Imagine the following scenarios:

- Imagine you’re in a meeting and have to convince your team members to invest in a new product that’s just come out. What would you do? You’d probably use graphs and pie charts to show them facts and figures related to the product. You’d also use words to explain how this product would help in creating a more sustainable future for the company.

- Now, imagine you’re at a doctor’s appointment, and you have to explain how your injury happened. You’ve bruised your leg, and there’s a cut. You have to describe how the cut happened, where it is located, how deep it is, and how it feels. You’d probably use words, sentences, and paragraphs to do so.

- Next, imagine you’re shopping for a gift for your sister, who has recently graduated from college. You’re clueless as to what gift to buy because you’re not sure what she’d want. You’d probably look through the gift items in the shop, look at the descriptions and reviews, and then make your decision. You’re not using words or sentences here — you’re using visuals. You’re looking at the products, reading the descriptions, and making your decision based on the visuals alone.

Graphic Design Plays A Crucial Role In Marketing

Marketers create advertisements, slogans, logos, websites, and other marketing materials to convince customers to buy their products and services. These ads and marketing materials are visual representations of the company and their products.

Without these visual representations, marketing would be far more difficult, if not impossible. Visual communications make marketing more effective through the use of visuals. Visuals make products more appealing, easier to understand, and more likely to be bought.


Graphic Design Helps Communicate Information

Graphic designers use visuals to communicate a wide range of information, from how to use a product to how an organization works. Visuals are especially helpful in communicating how-to instructions for complicated products.

Visuals are often used on instruction manuals for electronics and other complicated products. Visuals are probably most helpful in explaining how-to instructions in creative or artistic industries. Let’s take the example of an artist who’s selling paintings.

The artist may want to use visuals to explain how the paintings are created. The artist may use photographs of the paintings as well as computer graphics to create a visual representation of his work. With visuals, the paintings become far more appealing to sell.

So What Does Good Visual Communication Look Like?

Visuals are most effective when they are clear, concise, and engaging. When visuals are clear, users know exactly what they’re looking at. They understand the message being communicated by the visuals and can take the necessary action. When visuals are concise, they’re not wordy or over the top.

They’re precise and to the point. When visuals are engaging, they grab the user’s attention and keep them focused. Visuals can be engaging through a variety of factors, such as colour, use of graphics, and motion graphics.


Conclusion

Graphic design plays an important role in visual communication. It uses visuals to communicate information to users in creative ways. It helps users understand concepts or instructions more easily. Visuals can be engaging and easy on the eyes. They can also be used to promote products or services. When used effectively, visuals can be an incredibly powerful communication tool.

Illustrations are a great way to tell a story and with that, we created an illustration platform featuring black people for use on websites, web applications, mobile apps or any digital project. Go ahead and check our illustrations packs and download them now!