The Art of Visual Communications: Adding a Hint of “Lemonade” to Your Communications Campaign
In a data-driven society where information is disseminated at a speedy pace, the humans on the receiving end, often characterized by their short attention spans, aren’t consuming information any faster. Biologically speaking, we understand images as toddlers almost instantly —long before we learn the language used to decipher them. Our brains are wired to process the world visually, which is why we filter through the dissertations disguised as news articles and focus our attention towards the content that is more engaging and easier to synthesize using graphics and illustrations. Because of this, brands have modified the way in which they choose to advertise to their consumers and corporations have tailored their messages through more innovative tools such as infographics, 60-second Instagram clips, and other visual means.
The use of visualization to synthesize ideas has emerged as one of the most effective tools used for communications professionals as well as experts in the media. The marketing geniuses behind your favorite brands and the artists that you listen to are all privy to the way in which your brain works, causing them to rethink traditional marketing strategies and to adopt new ways to connect with their audiences.
Beyoncé, for example, has mastered this technique through the release of two ground-breaking visual albums. The pop artist recently used a surprise marketing tactic that stopped every ‘BeyStan’ in their tracks with high anticipation for an album release – and not just any album release, Lemonade successfully combined the songstress’s music with cinematography, imagery, and visual storytelling.
Using Lemonade to expose the demons haunting her marriage through music, Beyoncé successfully grasped the attention (and dollars) of millions of listeners through the use of visual artistic expression, a tactic that not many music artists use today. By releasing a 60-second teaser clip on Instagram a week before the world premiere, the artist detained the powers of a platform characterized by its tendency to cater to short attention spans—and used it to command the attention of her audience for weeks through simultaneous use of the hashtag #LEMONADE.
The use of visual communications is a more creative way to understand the world around us. Like any successful campaign, this project fully encompassed the innovative ideas of those who were simply not afraid to take a risk outside the boundaries of musical expression. If anything, Beyoncé’s Lemonade reiterates the need to take a step away from conventional marketing tactics sometimes in order to embrace new ways to get your messages across.