What has honey glazed strawberries got to do with communication design? The reality is ... everything. Honey glazed strawberries are Sticky—an approach to creating communication designs that will be remembered for a long time. You see many communications in the real world that are easy to remember. They are simple, catchy and they make sense. You tend to remember them forever. Yet, there are many that are complicated and you wondered what was the message you are suppose to take with you.
The Sticky concept is about Simplicity, Persuasiveness, and Youthfulness. All communications should be designed with stickiness in mind. They should be simple so that they are easily remembered. They should be persuasive so that they are believed. They should be youthful so that they are always fresh.
Simple
It is not easy to make things simple. When we communicate, there are so many things we want to say. But if the things we want to say can be said with just one word or a picture, it would have achieved stickiness. Communication design need to be simple so that it's message is focus and clear. Here is a good example that I took from the book Presentation Zen by Garr Reynords. These 2 messages convey the same thing but one is easy to remember and the other you can't even remember a single word, let alone understands it.
"Our mission is to become the international leader in the space industry through maximum team-centered innovation and strategically targeted aerospace initiatives."
or
"... put a man on the moon and return him safely by the end of the decade."
A communication design that is Sticky is simple and easy to understand. It removes clutter from the message and communicates only important things. Simplicity amplifies the message and make it Sticky.
Persuasive
A communication design that is Sticky is persuasive. It tells a story that people can relate to. Using an image or a message that is concrete and credible is persuasive. Concepts that are abstract and vague makes things difficult to understand and unbelievable.
Here is one of my favorite example from Apple that demonstrate persuasiveness. The image is simple and message is concrete and credible.
iPod nano. 1,000 songs. Impossibly small.
"1,000 songs." is a number and quantity unit that people can relate to. It is concrete. It is believable.
What if, the message says "4GB of memory."? It will not be as concrete. 4GB is not a unit that people can relate to easily. "4GB of memory." is difficult to understand, but "1,000 songs.", the message is clear. It's persuasive.
Youthful
The third attribute of the Sticky concept is Youthful. For a communication design to be Sticky, it must be youthful—fresh, energized, unexpected. It must give your audience the element of surprise. It must be something simple yet interesting. A Sticky communication design is one that is always fresh and stands out from the crowd. One that gets attention and sustain interest by stimulating curiosity.
The image on the right gives an example of youthfulness. A different kind of Apple. An element of surprise. Relate this to the message—"Never judge a book by it's cover"—a simple message coupled with the youthful image that you'll remember always.
Simple + Persuasive + Youthful = Sticky. Using the Sticky approach to communication design create stickiness in your communications. It makes your communication design memorable and sticky to the minds of your customers.
