Imagine the appearance of two bakeries, side by side—Deb’s Bakery, and Anne’s Bakery. Deb’s Bakery is a trendy place. It has rustic brick walls with intriguing modern art and strands of lights strung overhead. There are plush couches with coordinating teal and gray throw pillows. The area is clean and a heavenly aroma of fresh-baked pumpkin bread is tantalizing your taste buds.
Anne’s Bakery, on the other hand, is a bit off-putting. It isn’t well lit, the yellow paint on the walls is peeling and the mismatched chairs, complete with questionable structural integrity, look like they were picked up from sketchy garage sales. The only decorations are spider webs on the walls and dust bunnies in the corners. The smell of the dumpster out back is seeping through the kitchen doors.
You haven’t read any reviews on the bakeries, and you don’t know anything about the quality of the food they serve. Which do you choose?
The obvious answer is Deb’s Bakery.
Who knows? Maybe the food at Deb’s Bakery tastes like cardboard, while Anne’s Bakery has the most delicious blueberry muffins in the world. Without knowing that in advance, though, you would never choose Anne’s Bakery.
Appearance Matters
It’s no secret that people make judgments based on appearances. It’s human nature. The ethics of the topic are a discussion for another day, but the fact remains. Appearance makes a difference.
A
2007 study published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience and discussed in
this article found that our brains make snap decisions about whether to trust people just based on what they look like. In fact, the decision time is so fast that we aren’t even aware the decision has been made.
In a famous
2001 study, summarized in
this article, participants were given a glass of white wine that was dyed to look like red wine. When asked to describe the flavor, the participants used words typically used to describe red wine, such as “raspberry,” “cedar,” “cinnamon,” etc. Essentially, sight oftentimes overrides our other senses, such as taste. People perceive their other senses differently when appearance is altered.
So, we understand that appearance matters, but what does that mean for your business?
If you want people to perceive your business as trustworthy and professional, it needs to look the part. A good starting place is dressing it up with a fresh, innovative and attention-grabbing
logo that can be displayed on a
sign,
business cards, advertisements, swag and anything else you can imagine.
In fact,
AlphaGraphics can help you there. Our designers can
design the best look for your company. After, designing a new look, we can help you choose the best way to display or advertise your business, and print on the highest quality substrate.
Contact us to set up an appointment with one of our experts.
Obviously, you can’t run a business purely on good looks. You also need quality products and services, but without putting effort into the visual appeal, potential customers or clients won’t be inclined to choose your business in the first place.
It’s just like that old saying, “Looks capture attention. Personality captures the heart.”
For a company, “Looks capture attention. Quality products and services capture business.”