We are always on the lookout for creative ideas for doing standard things. Standard things like annual reports of companies. Enter Warby Parker and its application of creative visual design to one of its annual reports.
A creative mind is like a parachute. It doesn’t work if it is not open.
Creative thinking is the ability to consider something in a new way. It might be a new approach to a problem, a resolution to a conflict between employees, or a new result from a data set. Employers in all industries want employees who can think creatively and bring new perspectives to the workplace
Never heard of Parker Warby? As they write on their website, Warby Parker was founded with a rebellious spirit and a lofty objective: to
create boutique-quality, classically crafted eyewear at a revolutionary price
point.
Eyewear with a purpose
Almost
one billion people worldwide lack access to glasses. This means that 15% of the global population cannot effectively
learn or work – a problem that Warby Parker is determined to address. They’ve
partnered with non-profits like VisionSpring to ensure that for every pair of
glasses sold, a pair is distributed to
someone in need.
Eyewear startup Warby
Parker released its 2013
Annual Report, a perfect example of how important tone is in creating
great visual content. This very different approach to a year-end report uses a
calendar format, highlighting company events on each day. Some events are
significant company milestones; others are little anecdotes showcasing office
life and culture.
Wow … what a change from the typical financial results and
strategic initiatives that typically fill the pages of annual reports.
The report is an excellent example of a brand showcasing its ideas, creativity, and culture in a visually engaging way. At its core, the strategy of content marketing is not just about distribution and visibility. It is about telling the world who you are and what you stand for. This design goes a long way to turning customers into brand advocates.
The design shows how to empower your content. So many companies just don’t take advantage of their great content, or they don’t know how to present their content in a creative way. Often, in the end, they are fighting for survival as we all are. However, the brands that can express their personality, creativity, passion, and manage their content in a way that speaks to people will create loyal customers.
Here are nine important takeaways all brands can learn
from Warby Parker’s design approach to creating great content.
Push the edge to be different
What does the Warby Parker (http://www.warbyparker.com/annual-report-2013/#march-11 class trip have to do with eyeglasses? What does it matter? It is an interesting story, and Warby Parker uses the story to illustrate its personality and culture.
Push the edge.
Your content should be relatable, valuable and interesting for your audience. If you capture these qualities, your marketing will create a captive audience with ever-increasing brand loyalty.
Utilize visual design
First and foremost,
prioritize visual design in your efforts. Presenting your content in a visual
format has some benefits. First, humans
recognize and process images much faster than text; this is why visual content
has much greater appeal. A study by 3M showed that 90%
of the information sent to the brain is visual, and visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text.
Second, using a diversity of image types makes your content continuously fresh, which encourages readers to explore more. In Warby Parker design the combination of photography, illustration, videos, and data visualization keeps the eyes interested and moving around the page. More time on site means more engagement with your brand.
Apply data in comparison
If you are going to visualize data, display a comparison—that is what makes the visualization more meaningful. The infographics revolution has brought with it many missed data visualization opportunities in the form of single-data-point pie charts and big numbers with fancy typographic treatment.
Distilling data into a statistic removes the context and comparison that makes it insightful. Don’t fear complexity; take advantage of the opportunity to add clarity with many visualization design elements.
Show Your Personality
Business is becoming increasingly personal—not in the waiter remembers my name sort of way, but more in the way that we crave more personal connection in a web-based world. People want to know that the businesses they support are run in a way they can relate to, that its employees are people they might hang out with and potentially even someone who could become a good friend.
Marketing
content is all about making connections. Your level of success has a lot
to do with how your readers react to what you write. People connect with
your brand because they relate to what you’re saying to them. They want
to feel that your content is specifically
crafted to their interests and
needs in mind. In other words, it should feel personal.
Show off your people
Your customer community wants to know that there are humans behind your brand, and they want to know more about them as people. Don’t make the mistake of hiding your people, relationships, interactions and office pranks behind a shield of professionalism.
These things are most often as interesting as your products and services … and certainly as how much money you made last year. In today’s marketing landscape, whether you are a product or service-oriented business, you are selling your culture, and your culture is your people.
The growth in content consumption is not just because people are looking for a satisfactory distraction from work. Customers have an appetite for real, interesting information. The vast knowledge-sharing that the web has facilitated has brought with it an increased curiosity and hunger for understanding. Don’t believe that everything you do at the back end of your business is boring. Turn it into engaging content that will deepen your customers’ understanding of what your world is all about.
Create emotion
In his book, Contagious, Wharton professor Jonah Berger showed
that one of the key reasons people share creative content is because it arouses
a person’s emotion. His point … content
has to go beyond just being useful; it has to be unforgettable. Rather
than trying to churn out quantity, take the time to figure out what kind of
emotions move your audience.
In doing so, it’s important to remember that not all
emotion is created equal. In his
research, Berger identifies that certain kinds of emotions – those that get
people “aroused” like awe, passion, and anger – are much more likely to drive
shares than those that make people feel toned down – like sadness, relaxation,
or contentment.
Don’t be afraid to shake things up.
Integrate products/services naturally
Your products and services don’t have to be ignored. In this midst of all the other ways to add to your design, you often can overlook them. Feature your product or service naturally within content, but don’t make it an abrupt deviation from the other fun stuff.
This means that you will want to tone down your calls-to-action and any other hard-sell tactics. Use them as an opportunity to remind viewers what you do, without killing all those good vibes you have been building.
Share how you are awesome
One important element
of marketing is about bringing attention to how awesome you are. However, this doesn’t
mean your awesomeness-recognition abilities should be limited to your pursuits.
Calling out the big (and little) wins of others—vendors, customers,
ex-employees, maybe even competitors—shows that you are not afraid to give
credit where it is due. This fresh perspective will add authenticity to your
content.
Amplify who you are
Your content is a perfect place to let your audience know why you do what you do. Clearly articulating the values that give your company meaning helps you connect with people on a level beyond the business transaction, and it attracts people that share those same ideas. This powerful means of communication helps truly differentiate your brand—more than low prices, and fancy features could ever do.
Pilots don’t really fly planes anymore as much as they direct them. These days, their controls and instruments don’t actually connect to the plane’s mechanism, but to computers that translate their intent into meaningful action. In doing so, they make flying far safer and more efficient.
This is known as flying by wire and we don’t see anything threatening or strange about it. While at first, it may seem to be a bit more disconcerting when computers start navigating the realm of abstract thought rather than the mechanics of aviation, it shouldn’t be, any more than driving a car should affect our feelings about walking.
The bottom line
So what makes us creative? Our ability to form our own intent. It is only through creating a purpose that is uniquely our own that we can fully embody the human spirit.
In 1940, an advertising executive named James Webb Young published a short guide titled, A Technique for Producing Ideas. Young believed the process of creative connection always occurred in five steps.
Gather new material. At first, you learn. During this stage you focus on 1) learning specific material directly related to your task and 2) learning general material by becoming fascinated with a wide range of concepts.
Thoroughly work over the materials in your mind. During this stage, you examine what you have learned by looking at the facts from different angles and experimenting with fitting various ideas together.
Step away from the problem. Next, you put the problem completely out of your mind and go do something else that excites you and energizes you.
Let your idea return to you. At some point, but only after you have stopped thinking about it, your idea will come back to you with a flash of insight and renewed energy.
Imagine you could go back in time and give your 20-year-old self a bit of advice on investing in the creative process, coming up with new ideas, and producing good, fun work.
What would you say?
So what’s the conclusion? The conclusion is there is no
conclusion. There is only the next step. And that next step is completely up to
you.
It’s up to you to keep improving your ability to learning to learn. Lessons are all around you. In many situations, your competitor may be providing ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
It’s up to you to keep improving your continuous learning
from all around in your environment.
When things are not what you want them to
be, what’s most important is your next step.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer
service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that
relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on Twitter,
and LinkedIn.
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