Good Design is Good Communication

Good Design is Good Communication

In a world where design is often relegated to nothing more than aesthetics and good visuals, in actual fact, by reason that design is about identity and messaging, it is entirely therefore about good communication. Something that is designed well, does not only look good, but communicates something of value with clarity, confidence, authority, and most importantly, humanity.

In a world of saturated brand marketing at every possible touch point that we encounter, it can become overwhelming to deal with the noise as people. And as people of the 21st century continue to be bombarded with noise and sales, we are slowly losing our most human tendencies. 

What I hope to explain here is a simple conviction that design is not about aesthetics at all, but about communication—and moreover, communication with people at the focus. 

Good design is human-centred, people-focused, and relationship based. It takes into account the simple question of, “is this making someones life better? Is this making the world a better place? 

It is popular today for design itself to become just as abused as people are by the hustle culture brand mentality. The “busy man” syndrom that has taken over the keyboards of designers and creatives everywhere. The mindset has been slowly shifting from a focus on people, to a focus on economic gain at any cost. 

But there is some good news. It is perhaps only my small belief that people are waking up to this. Within this awakening, there is something much more simple and more effective at the heart of good marketing—relationship. Real design is about real communication through myriad of creative mediums, both visual and non-visual. 

Design is often relegated to the visual sphere; a good logo, brand guidelines, fonts, color palettes, mood boards, etc. But how often do these design elements take into account the human experience they interact with? How often do these design elements have in mind the psychological rigor that asks itself “is this communicating what I want to say?” 

The Myth of Storytelling

A personal annoyance of mine is the bastardization of the term “storytelling” in marketing. I agree with the value of story, to be sure, and will even go so far as to say that no brand sells anything of value without story. However, I think when the term makes its way into the board rooms and zoom calls of the corporate american marketing world today, it is confused by execs and CEO’s with nothing more than the architecture of a facade over a skeleton, rather than the heart of the brand, product, and movement itself. 

It is conflated with the ego-centric desire for CEO’s to now make the brand about them rather than about others. This is where the subtle difference lives. Good brand storytelling may or may not have anything to do with a cool founding story. In fact, that story may be the last thing it should ever tell. Good brand storytelling has the expertise and humility to build a user experience that tells the story without any words. The audience, the user, the customer is the one who lives that story, and as such can empathize and relate with it deeply and naturally. A good brand knows its audience, it knows the people, whose lives it seeks to make better. 

It is not enough for a brand to tell some egotistical founders story and say they’ve ‘told their story’. 

The Language of Silence

One of the greatest gifts that visual design has is its ability to communicate something to someone through no words. Brand storytelling is not merely about writing an article and hoping everyone will read it, nor is it about making a branded film and hoping everyone will stumble upon it on a feed. It is about the cohesive nature of the brand itself. The typeface, colors, brand mark, logo, wordmark, monogram, its packaging choices, paper stocks, user interface, and yes even messaging—all work together, like an orchestra or a choir, to tell a story that speaks to the humanity of the people who it is intended to serve.

All design is unto the service of humanity and the world.