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| design perspective |
Your audience doesn’t really care. I know it sounds harsh and it’s difficult for us to accept sometimes (us being the people that do care), but most of the time they just don’t. They don’t care about good design for design’s sake. They don’t want to read instructions, warnings or the small type. They don’t even want to read the things that we think are important (like this perspective). They don’t have time for long Flash intros (nor the patience for them to load), and you’ll lose them in a few seconds if you try to tell them too much too soon. They want information, and they want it fast and efficient.
In today’s often overwhelming world of marketing, we are steadily bombarded with a constant stream of information, most of which is not organized in a manner we can figure out (in the 3 seconds we’re willing to invest before we move on). Much of this muddled design comes from the Internet (although it is getting better), and there are countless brochures, collateral and print media that find the bottom of the dreaded circular file before they’re ever unfolded.
As a design studio, it’s our job to remedy this. Simply put, it’s our responsibility to you (our client) to communicate your message to your audience as effectively and efficiently as possible (yes, that’s the simple version). Before we can do that, we have to spark an interest, and retain that interest in your audience long enough to inform them of your message. Trudeau Creative is able to do just that through our many years of design experience, our research in the art and science of advertising and marketing, and a good helping of creativity.
It’s important to understand how humans think. We as humans like order. We like to be able to see something and quickly organize the elements, then assign meaning and value. Our brains will get frustrated with too much clutter, then come to the conclusion that this information is not that important – all in a matter of seconds. At that point, we’ve lost them. They have moved on to something more interesting, or at least something they can understand more quickly.
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Successful design methodically leads the impatient audience through a well thought out visual “road map” of information, commonly called the Hierarchy of Read. Only the necessary information is included, and negative space is crucial to not over-stimulate the audience, and maintain their attention. Elaborate, narcissistic design will likely only confuse the masses. We like clean and we like simple (sometimes we like edgy, trendy and alternative but even these genres are designed with deliberate disguised organization).
It’s also important to understand how our eyes work. Since our pre-school days of finger painting and afternoon naps, we have been taught to scan from left to right, starting from the top and working our way down to the bottom (this theory can be challenged with yellow page ad location, but leave that knowledge to us). We get into a rhythm as we skip back to the next line. Our eyes like things to line up, they like flush left and justified. They like white space. They like simple.
At Trudeau Creative, our design philosophy is based on these beliefs. Prior to any design project, we start with a paper and pencil. We focus on your objectives. We make lists. We concept. We sketch. We brainstorm how to visually simplify the subject matter. We strip away all unnecessary elements and start with the lowest visual common denominator. We divide it all up, separate everything and lay it out, then start to “assemble” a design from the ground up. Our logo is even based on this philosophy. At first look you’ll see geometric shapes, but take a closer look and you’ll see a stylized division symbol – which encapsulates our entire design philosophy.
We discover visual solutions through strategic simplicity. We believe that communication is the most important service we can offer our clients, and compelling communication begins with great ideas and great design. |
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John Trudeau - Founder |
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