How to choose a style that people will like⋅ EV #027

In the last EV issue, you learned why you, as a founder, your designer, and your audience may have radically different views on aesthetics:

Aesthetic Realms ⋅ EV #026

Your designer, who is confident that their visuals are great, may face your “I don’t like it”. Not a big deal. They will rework. But you, as a founder who is madly in love with your freshly designed brand image, may also face rejection. You’ll realize after the brand relaunch,

Embrace VarietyIra Nezhynska

Let's look at how you can put this new knowledge into action for a successful brand launch.

Step 1.
Understand the distance between you and your audience.

Are you a developer building for developers?
Or an ex-attorney building for lawyers?
If you used to be one of the people you serve, the chances are high that you both live in the same Aesthetic Realm.

If you have never been one of them, find 5-8 people who represent your Ideal Customer. You will use this list to research what they find visually appealing.

Step 2.
Map their Aesthetic Realm.

You have three approaches to research aesthetics on your own:

1. (the long path) Become a spy and ethnographer for a bit.
   Run field research: go where they go, read what they read, follow their social media, and attend events they organize. You'll get a sense of what they prefer.
2. (quick and dirty) Ask AI.
   AI is good at surfacing patterns. And shared aesthetic preferences are a pattern. But beware:
    
   ⚠️ Your audience may be slightly different from the industry average. For example, AI will say that all devs like ASCII art and brutalism. While one dev ecosystem I'm working for these days prefers organic shapes and smooth minimalism.
   
    ⚠️ AI will not give you answers visually. It will list styles and art directions, which you'll need to explore on your own.
3. (quick and reliable) Survey people on your list.

Step 3.
Keep it as your North Star

Every time you make a design decision, refer back to your audience's aesthetic preferences: Does your favorite design fit their Aesthetic Realm?

If yes, go ahead!
If no, ask a designer to iterate until you find as much overlap between what you hoped for and what your audience will find appealing.

Step 4.
Test your style before release

Decision after decision, you'll see your new visual style shaping up. Don't wait until it's ready to be launched – test your visual design as early as you can.

What and how do you test?

"How to test your brand identity hypothesis" deserves a separate post ;) Stay tuned — we'll unpack it shortly. Right after a very special thread I prepared for you, starting this Friday.

See you soon,
Ira

P.S. If you'd like me to unpack something specific for your project or industry, just email me at iryna@nezhynska.com or submit your question anonymously here.