THE ABCs OF POS

VISUAL HEIRARCHY AND GRAPHIC DESIGN

Last time we talked about choosing the right type of display for your product in a retail store. Just as critical as the right retail display is getting your graphic design right. There are two important things your graphics must do:

 1. STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD. With thousands of products vying for your customer’s eyeballs, your graphics have to attract their attention.

 2. TELL YOUR STORY in a way that is meaningful to your customers.

No doubt you have agonized over product messaging, but have you considered your VISUAL HIERARCHY?

Visual hierarchy controls the delivery of the customer's experience. If they have a hard time figuring out where to look first on your display, then it's safe to assume your design is missing a clear visual hierarchy.

Here are a few research-based rules for designing graphics for displays*.

A. Limit your messages – use just a few salient benefits that best tell your customer why they need this product. 5 to 7 words are considered the optimal length. Shoppers today come into the store with far more pre-purchase information than ever before, so you don’t need to talk about every product feature in your display. Keep your message succinct, but

B. Leave space for pricing in a clearly visible spot. If you don’t account for price tags, your important information could get covered up!

In this example, key images are hidden by the retailer’s price label. While it showcases product features, it also makes the key mistake of hiding the branding at the bottom, where it’s virtually invisible to shoppers.

C. Lifestyle imagery – pictures of people connect your customers with your product and are proven to be more attractive to shoppers.

D. Keep your brand / logo in the picture – your logo is an important part of building trust with customers, so make sure it’s clearly visible on your display.

E. Product imagery – create curiosity and stopping power with pictures of your product. Things like texture and ingredients are examples of food imagery that appeals to customer’s taste buds. Drinks, beauty products and other liquids benefit from showing their viscosity, colour and implying scent. 

 This display shows the candy bars and ice cream bars with a tasty look at the inside of each product. 

F. Keep your most important message at eye-level – generally speaking, that’s on the display header. Make key messages bigger. Design standards suggest that headlines should be 3 times larger than body text.

The display above is a great example of both principles E and F. with the key message right at eye level and the product shown in an eye-catching and appetizing way.

G.  Organize your messaging in a pattern that is natural for readers – customers generally scan in one of two shapes, “F” and “Z”, so take advantage of this in your design. Below you can see what this might look like on a display header, but you can apply this rule to the side panels or the front of the display and include the shelf strips as part of the overall pattern.

H. Allow space around your words – the effect is like highlighting text on paper with a bright color! There are two kinds of white space that are important: Active White Space and Passive White Space. Active White Space needs to be consciously designed. The diagram below can help you visualize how to do that.

*Source: The Central Group Design Fundamentals Research, copyright 2021.