See how ideas are formed
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How to Generate great visual ideas
Exciting discoveries often seem to occur in incredible “Eureka!” moments. But most legendary ideas didn’t actually appear in flashes of divine inspiration; they were notions, half-baked in the brain, rising like bread, until they were ready to be served.
(even though your brain’s been working on it for awhile)
An idea “suddenly” is revealed.
Your brain starts to process the new info subconsciously.
You digest the material by thinking and talking.
You gather raw material.
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Experts agree that creative thinking occurs pre-verbally before logic or linguistics come into play. Marketer and author James Webb Young, who published A Technique for Producing Ideas, in 1940, claimed that "An idea is nothing more or less than a new combination of old elements," and it is formed liked this:
How Ideas Form
ReaLize
Process
Digest
Gather
93% of people said interactive content was effective at educating a buying audience, and interactive content generated conversions more than 70% of time.
Educates people and convinces them to buy.
Internet users prefer to explore their interests through clicking, watching, and revisiting.
Allows for non-linear narratives.
Users become part of interactive stories, shaping them with their decisions.
Encourages an active audience.
There's more content available on the web than ever, and people switch between their devices approximately 21 times per hour.
Grabs Viewers' Attention.
Seduce people to buy.
Ads employing certain images can lead to less inhibition, "translates to less restraint in the buying process."
Convince people of truths.
Images inflate subjective feelings of truth, which means pictures can help you convince people of whatever you are trying to tell them.
Boost the power of memory.
Humans remember pictures more accurately than words because the brain encodes visual images more precisely.
Human brains were designed to process images, not words. Cave paintings appeared in 40,000 BC while the first letters appeared much later in about 1850 BC.
Help people understand concepts better.
see how to generate good visual ideas
As a marketer, you need to generate good ideas consistently to stand out. Make sure your content gets noticed and engages your audience by incorporating VISUALS and INTERACTIVITY.
Why good ideas are important
Interactive content
Visual ideas
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Look at the drawing you’ve created, it may reveal linked visual elements that you might not have come up with on your own.
Repeat until each team member has added a component to the drawing.
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Give the sketch to another member of your team and have them sketch their own visual element.
Create a sketch of your topic’s central image.
Steps for Collaborative sketching
Use these individual sensory sketches to get at a commonly understood, but rarely visualized element of your main topic.
Try to draw a visual representation of how those sensory experiences felt.
If possible, create those sensory experiences for yourself.
Make a list of non-visual sensory elements related to your subject.
Steps for Visualizing sensory experiences
Analyze these images and determine what makes them feel cliché. Use your reactions as a guide for your visual direction.
Comb through your images to identify any clichés.
Take a break and come back with fresh eyes.
Draw every association you come up with for the central subject of your visual concept.
Steps for Reversing clichés
Look at the map and connect the outermost branches with the central idea. You may see two elements you would not have previously associated that can help you come up with an overarching visual idea.
Add images that represent subtopics.
Draw lines off the central concept and add images that represent main topics related to the central idea.
Draw one key image in the center of a piece of paper.
Steps for mind mapping
Step back and look at the entire image. What story is being told? Does it trigger any ideas?
Find clippings related to your central image and paste them near it.
Paste your favorite to the center of a piece of paper.
Clip words, phrases, and images related to your project.
Steps for collaging
see elements of good visual ideas
Visual ideas form in the brain the same way any other ideas do, and there are some great step-by-step methods of accessing those ideas when you need them.
How to Generate Good Visual Ideas
Collaborative sketching
Visualizing sensory experiences
reversing clichés
Mind Mapping
Collaging
6. story-driven
The bottle indicates someone was out having a good time, doing something we all do, before one bad decision ended the fun forever.
5. emotional
The ragged hand and open mouth are strangely emotional for a silhouette. As we read the image’s message, we connect to it.
4. Credible
We've all seen crime scenes and read the drunk driving statistics.
3. Concrete
A silhouette flattened by a car is something we can relate to.
2. Unexpected
It's violent, but abstract; jarring, but not gory. The unconventional presentation forces us to stop and decode the image.
1. simple
This concept is about as simple and easy to understand as it gets.
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Built in
The above image was designed in 1987 by Craig Frazier as part of a public service campaign aimed at persuading kids not to drink and drive.
see how to bring your visual ideas to life
Good Visual ideas are ones that "stick."
People relate to them, remember them and pass them around. To be sure your visual idea is “sticky,” ask yourself if it meets the following six criteria:
Elements of Good Visual Ideas
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Bring your visual ideas to life with Ceros’ interactive design platform.
Develop new content ideas for your marketing program with Oz.
How do you take your visual idea from concept to complete? You don’t have to be a designer to create visual or interactive content.
Bring Your Visual Ideas to Life
