As an artist of almost 50 years’ experience drawing comes quite natural to me. This played out in the advertising jobs given me from several companies and then my own business. Newspapers and postal drops were my specialty and designing was especially important to getting as much information to the reader’s eye as possibly. This meant clever drawings had to take the place of words.
In more recent years as a writer this skill has paid off when choosing as few words as possible to describe something. Generally, authors waft on trying to paint a picture that their audience will pick up on. The same goes for the Internet.
Web pages and articles have about six seconds of viewing time to catch their audience before the page is clicked over. Unless there is a catchy title or a word that grabs their interest they are gone, and they rarely return.
While the viewing audience of this latest media format amounts to many millions or more there is no guarantee that a web page will be seen. Instead of word many will be drawn in by a great image. Over time a logo or comedy picture will instantly connect if they know that there is a benefit to be had by sticking around.
Logo’s are great draw cards and teaching people to respond to them is best done through the graphics rather than words. That is because many are not fast readers and some can barely read at all. But everyone responds to a picture.
If, on the other hand, one is appealing to a more intellectually aware audience it is the words rather than the image they respond to. It’s important to know, therefore, who your audience will be and how to best present your material so the balance is right. That is where graphic art, writing, and drawing skills all come into play.