How We Judge Books… and What You Should Do About It

We’ve all heard the age-old admonishment. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

What a joke.

In a time when we are all subject to constant information overload, there literally is no time to judge a book – or anything else for that matter by anything more than its cover.

Thankfully, it appears that we human beings are intuitively equipped to make snap judgments with shocking accuracy. If you doubt this point, pick up a copy of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink (The Power of Thinking Without Thinking). In it, he shares countless examples of people reaching amazingly insightful conclusions with seemingly almost no data on which to base their positions.

So why do I raise this issue?

I’m sick of selling people on the importance of design.

In an environment in which time and attention are abundant, marketers have the luxury of focusing on the substance of communication rather than its packaging. Unfortunately, outside of a focus group where subjects are being paid to concentrate, I’m not aware of many other settings in which our prospects’ time and attention is anything but DARN scarce.

So we marketers had better package what we have to say (and sell) in a way that creates the desired impression in a second or two. Because that’s all we’ve got… if we’re lucky.

Let me be clear.  Am I saying that our prospects will decide to buy on the basis of a momentary impression?

No. At least not always.

Some of us sell products and services that require careful consideration.

But the FIRST sale we make to these prospects is to persuade them to invest their scarce time and attention in learning more about what we have to offer. This sale, I would argue, is made or lost in a fleeting moment.

So what should you do about this?

STOP shaving budgets by skimping on design.

STOP passing off design to the receptionist who just learned Microsoft Publisher last weekend – and seems to enjoy it.

START identifying the seriously talented designers in your area, and engage them in your work.

The great thing about the world of graphic design, in my experience, is that you DON’T always get what you pay for.

I work with a handful of extremely talented freelance designers.  They all used to work at agencies where an hour of their time cost a client $150 – $200. They freelance now, and guess what. An hour of their time costs a LOT less.

Are they any less talented than they were at the agency? No.

Is their equipment any worse than it was at the agency? No. Often better in fact.

The design function is fueled very little if at all by the overhead of agencies. So find the talented freelancers, and work with them. You’ll be amazed by how small the incremental cost is relative to the value you receive.

And once this whole information overload thing passes, you still have the receptionist to take over design.