Good design confidently appeals to the subconscious. Throughout my experience and passion for art, design and thinking about the mind, I find that timeless successful designs know what they evoke subconsciously and consciously, and it takes a good designer or team to recognize this and to fully realize the truth of the design, in so doing, appealing to the subconscious holistically.
In prioritizing conscious or subconscious appeal, ultimately subconscious rules fundamentally, while conscious appeal can elevate, strengthen, and add as a mental “reward” for the perception of the design. Take, for example, the FedEx logo.
Subconsciously there are multiple aspects at play that speak to the truth of FedEx as an individualized concept. The ratio of dark value to light/medium value of “Fed” and “Ex” as a 3 letter to 2 letter change subconsciously evokes movement, and this is strengthened by the color choices as well, and our culture additionally strengthens it unconsciously since we read left to right. Furthermore the boldness of the type and its tight tracking evoke compactness, stability, and the sans serif typeface evokes cleanliness and directness, whereas a serif would subconsciously stop us in our tracks to draw attention to the serifs, or the “feet” of the letters. With each letter butted up next to each other, we feel as if such a compact set of letters could fit within a rectangular package securely, emphasized even more so subliminally by the rectangular forms found in the letters, especially apparent with the adjacent “d” and “E” at the exact same height, lined up perfectly. The design would be weakened if, for example, the letters weren’t touching at all.
I could also add that the now obvious arrow in the “Ex” appeals to the subconscious (and it certainly was the original intention), but it has entered the public perception of logo design to such an extent that I would consider it rather an appeal to the conscious. Not necessary for a great design, but it certainly reinforces and elevates it, and in this case it very much does so.
Overall we have evocations of movement, stability, compactness, directness, cleanliness, and tying this all together (and perhaps the most important evocation), confidence. All these aspects are appealing to us subconsciously, and are the “individualized truth'“ of the brand that I touched on earlier
Let’s consider another successful design and brand identity, Method.
What is the body wash signifying to us subconsciously? Let us also take in mind that the bottle is a soft plastic with a frosted transparency (not made clear in this image). Immediately there are evocations of smoothness, conciseness, softness, transparency, and of course, confidence. The word “method” suggests a process or an approach, and this process or approach sits succinctly underneath the title. It’s simple: coconut, rice milk, shea butter, topped off with the title of this particular Method body wash type, “simply nourish”. Notice the segmentation, the rhythmic “step” of the design vertically that adds a very simplistic visual action that subconsciously communicates to us trust and transparency. There’s no gaudy ornamental embellishments that try to catch the eye. Rather the simplicity and visual confidence of the bottle catches our eye in almost a friendly manner since the information on this face of the bottle is so approachable and direct. Additionally, I would draw focus to the shape of the bottle. It stands upright, and is softly curved, and we read the text from top to bottom, subliminally representing to us a smooth, clean body, strengthened subconsciously and consciously by the concept and word “body” present in the title. There’s more that I could delve in, but I believe I touched on the most dominant features that make this particular design successful.
Now let us consider a faulty design.
While not horrible, the design could certainly use some cleaning up in regards to variety and hierarchy. When I see this design, nothing evokes “protein shake” or the concept of “premier” subliminally except for the cube-like packaging that communicates stability, strength, and fortification. Of course we have the conscious reading of “protein” by the “30g Protein” calling for our attention as well as the name of the brand, “Premier Protein”, but nothing else really reinforces these concepts confidently, and does’t provide a substantive subconscious appeal. What is damaging this design? First off, the wide array of type sizes and numerous typefaces feel unnecessary and compensatory. The flaw inherent in the logo is that the design of the typeface aims to consciously evoke movement or action, made evident by the tapering diagonals found on the “P” and, while not as inherently harmful, the italicized type. The visual embellishment of the red crescent swoosh also feels unnecessary and compensatory since it further reinforces the hope that the viewer would consciously think of movement or action. There’s also too many colors and visual flairs, especially pertaining to gradients/shading, and a lack of balance and messaging in hierarchy. The design feels sterile, cold, medicinal in a negative way. The design lacks confidence both consciously and subconsciously, and thus I wouldn’t be surprised if some time down the line Premier Protein got a complete re-branding. These products sell perfectly fine, so perhaps a consideration won’t be raised for a long while, but it’s still a necessary talking point I think.
These are just a few examples, and there’s plenty more. Consider the Instagram logo from its old design to how it is now, or the old Patreon logo to the new one we have now. I find it absolutely important as artists, designers, marketers, creators, etc. that we understand how successful designs appeal to our subconscious, and that this particular fact matters more than the inevitable short-term possible appeal of designs that cater to the conscious. Long-lasting successful designs are confident in all that they show; they know precisely what they’re communicating to and why it’s effective. Consciously upon their reveal, (such as the new instagram logo) they might get a lot of backlash because the mass public who are non-design-literate view designs (especially visual mediums, such as graphic design) superficially, but over time it becomes ever clear that these designs last and are strong because they are confident in representing and communicating their individualized truths.