Consider the image. Your challenge is to match A, B, C, with the options 1, 2, 3, outlined below. (Answer at the end of this post.) 1. A business executive 2. A punchline to a joke 3. A newspaper headline. I think everyone will get it, so what is the point of asking a quiz that everyone will get right? Hopefully it will make sense in the end. Each image above is written in a different font. The fonts are designed to convey different meanings. The design reveals its character and a
its character and authority and purpose and intent.
We all know that is true of good design and we instinctively recognise it for what it is.
For instance ‘Kapow!’ in image C just looks wrong. The word is a cartoon phrase and the Times New Roman font is not a cartoon font.
There is a misalignment between image and word, between the look and the message.
Here is the answer:
A = 2 (Kapow! is written in Comic Sans = punchline to a joke.)
B = 1 (Kapow! is written in Calibri = business person)
C = 3 (Kapow! is written in Times New New Roman = a headline)
And we can all spot it. But let’s consider the implications of incongruence between the design (the offer) and the communications:
Think about you and your image and what you say and do. How congruent is that with each other?How do the products you sell and the prices you charge align with each other?How does the way you present your merchandise align with the image of the product and the image of the staff selling it?Does your store design line up with your advertising?
In consumer psychology we talk about the notion of ‘cognitive dissonance’.
That is the experience we get when we try and process two contradictory ideas (like when a nasty mother law has an accident in your Ferrari).
It is not a pleasant feeling and we tend to avoid this intellectual jarring. And if it is the incongruence between what the business promises and delivers (in any manifestation) then the natural human response is to avoid the business that causes this discomfort.
Dennis
Ganador: Learn to Perform
