Communication Design can be best described as a combined discipline between design and information development. It is concerned with how media communicates with people and how a message is developed in addition to aesthetics in media but also for creating new media channels for ensuring how the message reaches the target audience.
Designers also use graphic design and communication design for overlapping their skills. Design is often times spoken about tangibly as a medium that can solve a problem or promote something good. In case there is a problem, what you really have is something that should be changed.
Communication Design is something that can be used as a response to the crisis and the change it begins can be either better or worse. In this blog, we will see how communication design can influence behavior change toward a more sustainable future. Let’s begin.
What is Communication Design?
Communication design is a system-based approach in which the media and messages in an organization can be designed as an integrated process instead of a series of discrete efforts. This can be done by communication channels that are used for either informing or attracting the attention of people.
Design skills should be used for fitting to different people while also maintaining pleasurable visual design. This is information that adds media communication for getting the best results. In the communication discipline, the design seeks to attract, inspire and create desires while motivating people to respond to messages with a view to make a favorable impact.
The impact can be the bottom line of the commissioning body which can either help in building a brand or moving sales. It can also range from changing behaviors, promoting a brand message, and disseminating information. Communication design involves strategic business thinking and using market research, problem-solving, creativity, and technical skills including color theory for results.
The main job of communication designers is to translate ideas by using many media channels and their talent does not lie only in traditional skills but also in their ability to think strategically in design and marketing terms. Their thinking helps them in establishing credibility and influence by using communication.
Lastly, the term communication design is used interchangeably with visual communication but it also has an alternative broader meaning that includes vocal, touch, smell, and auditory. Some examples of communication design include editing, typography, information architecture, web design, advertising, animation, performing arts, professional writing skills, editing, etc.
Factors That Drive Desired Human Behaviour
The connection between aesthetics and usability is strong enough for justifying the process of finding a balance. Evaluating behavior and user testing while using present principles and design knowledge and having artistic ability are important as this helps in achieving balance and also improving the appeal of the end product.
The key to making sure that the design is good is to prioritize research experiments, and testing but to also be informed by it all. When the communication design process is customized according to the goals, the results end up creating a deep impact on the behavior of people.
Some of the factors that drive desired human behavior with the power of communication design are mentioned below.
- Getting a deep understanding of why people are not engaging with the target behavior.
- Making the most out of all opportunities to break these barriers.
- Introducing design interventions for triggering the behaviors or creating new habits.
- Consistently causing lasting behavior change.
How Does Communication Design Help In Influencing Behaviour Change?
Communication design involves a systematic understanding of how people think and how they make important decisions. Following this approach, the designers form the basis of thinking about common interventions that can lead to behavioral change.
Behavioral designers use the best of design, technology, creative methods, and psychology for finding out why most people do things the way they do and for figuring out by experimentation how a change can be activated.
To influence, the designers try to figure out what human needs to become successful. The attempt is to deal with all anxieties, doubts, and bad habits that a designer holds that may come in the way of embracing the desired behavior or the pains that could be solved for the customer.
Regardless of the challenge that needs to be solved or the goal that needs to be achieved with the power of design, communication designers can use powerful mediums for creating behavior change.
Conclusion:
Communication design can influence behavior change remarkably for creating a more sustainable future. If you have always been interested in becoming a designer who can contribute positively to the growth of society then you must educate yourself with a suitable degree that can put you on the path to success.
The four-year Bachelor of Design degree in Communication Design from Chitkara can help you in getting ahead while also underpinning your creative practice with a solid understanding of communication design strategies
