As an artist with almost 50 years of experience, drawing comes quite naturally to me. This was reflected in advertising jobs given to me by various companies and later in my own business. Newspapers and mailings were my specialty and layout was especially important to get as much information as possible into the reader’s eye. This meant that witty drawings had to take the place of words.
In more recent years, as a writer, this skill has paid off by choosing as few words as possible to describe something. In general, authors try to paint a picture that their audience will grasp. The same goes for the Internet.
Web pages and articles have about six seconds of display time to engage your audience before the page is clicked. Unless there’s a catchy title or word that catches their interest, they’re gone and rarely come back.
While the viewing audience for this latest media format numbers in the many millions or more, there is no guarantee that a web page will be viewed. Instead of words, many will be drawn to a great image. Over time, a comedy logo or image will instantly connect if they know there’s a profit to be made from sticking around.
Logos make great drawing cards and teaching people to respond to them is best done through graphics rather than words. This is because many are not fast readers and some can barely read. But everyone responds to an image.
If, on the other hand, one is appealing to a more intellectually aware audience, it is the words rather than the image that they respond to. Therefore, it is important to know who your audience will be and how to best present your material so that the balance is right. That’s where graphic art, writing and drawing skills come into play.