Vizthinking is our way of identifying a very useful skill that is yours to use if we can help you
break through your conditioned inhibitions about thinking and communicating. It is a way of
making your perceptual thinking tangible in a visual form to be used for creating concepts and
generating ideas. It is a way of thinking with your senses and Deceptions.
Idea visualization (or vizthinking) is vital for the copywriter, journalist, publicist, advertising
designer, display designer, graphic artist, or just plain doodler.
In the business of advertising, the job of providing the layout, visual, and graphics for an
advertisement is that of the art director. The copywriter has, as her daily task, the job of creating
the words of the advertisement and, at the height of her activity, of creating the basic concept.
It is in line with this conceptual part of her work that a copywriter needs to be able to think
visually. Our term for thinking visually is vizthinking. More important, we have developed a
series of "vizthinks," which we hope will be a virtual "layout and graphics course for
copywriters."
The copywriter should be able to convey her thinking and preferences for the visualization of
copy and concepts to an art director. She must do this clearly, taking full advantage of the
various ways in which a product can be visualized in print, film, video tape, or in the "mind's
eye" of radio.
This calls for a large degree of cooperation between the copywriter and the art director. If the
proper rapport exists, the road is smooth. A great deal of tact and deft handling is called for on
the copywriter's part. She must not seem to be assuming the role of art director. She must,
nevertheless, get her idea across to the art department. A successful copywriter will be effective
at this, as well.
Many copywriters do think visually. This does not mean that they can draw. We have
demonstrated in our idea visualization classes that vizthinks are a way that copywriters can learn
to "draw" thumbnails, rough layouts, and visuals that really help their writing. The ability to
visualize may help the art director clearly see the central idea of the ad as conceived by the copywriter.
Vizthinking is not a drawing technique as much as it is a way of thinking with your senses. It is a
tool that uses the medium of drawing, sketching, doodling, or thumbnailing to record perceptions
of the mind's eye. It means that you are able to think in pictures that demonstrate some benefit,
satisfaction, use', or feature of the product.
Depending upon the rapport that may exist with an art director, a copywriter who develops a skill
for drawing rough layouts and visuals may also find it wise to add an extra dimension: a
description of the idea in words. However, this is usually unnecessary, when a rough layout is a
clear explanation of what is wanted.
The importance of idea visualization in the selling process should be stressed here. Earlier, in the
discussion of headlines, the point was made that the visual shares with the headline the task of
taking the early steps of the selling process, that of capturing the attention and arousing the
interest of the potential consumer. It is natural, then, that the copywriter who will write the
headline may also think about the visualization simultaneously.
Visualizing your product can obviously be handled effectively in many different ways. Your
choice will be influenced by the product itself, current happenings, and perhaps by the policies
set up by your predecessors.
In visualization, as in copywriting, identification and involvement are again the important
concepts to keep in mind. Certainly, the visualization will depend to a great extent on who will
be looking at your advertisement. Surveys indicate that, contrary to general opinion, men tend to
look at pictures of men in ads, women at pictures of women. Naturally, this rule does not apply
to the deliberately provocative, bare "midriff-plus" visualization that is intended to make
everyone look at "everything." The identification of women with women, and so forth, does
apply to the day-in. day-out advertising that makes up the bulk of the promotions.
The choice of visualization should, above all, be determined the central selling message and copy
appeal that you, as copywriter. Have developed for the advertisement or advertising campaign.
By indicating your preference and your own ideas to the art director. You can be more certain
that the essential concept of your advertisements and campaign will be carried out.
RESEARCH: A SOURCE OF CONCEPTS
There never has been a better stimulus to creative thinking than solid research. Marketing
research that has accurately defined a marketing problem, focused on a target group in a specific
market carefully defined the audience, and thus helped to select copy appeals and approaches can
be the best foundation for the creative connection. The efforts spent on research can actually cut
the time needed for verbal visual problem-solving. Solid research may serve to suggest
alternative solutions to marketing problems, indicating additional verbal and visual approaches to
a given problem.
The successful creative connection is like good orchestration in music. It works well because
various instrumental elements have harmonized to produce a sound that says more than any
individual instrument by itself.
TRY WORD/PICTURE ASSOCIATIONS
The creative connection is an optimum blend of visual and verbal elements which uniquely
reinforce each other. The copywriter / visualizer or visualizer/copywriter must make creative
decisions that choose the most effective pictures and words to deliver a message. A concept such
as trust can be described by words. How would you describe it in a picture? On the other hand,
which would better describe a chunk of tender lobster claw dipped in drawn butter, words or a
color photograph? There are no simple answers to such questions. But, certainly, a compelling
picture strongly supported by carefully composed words can evoke a great response than the
proverbial thousand words or a thousand pictures working alone.
To practice word/picture associations that can communicate your ideas quickly, clearly, and
simply, try listing at least three pictures in words that illustrate the word "trust."
Now assume that your advertisement is for a manufacturer of pharmaceuticals sold "across the
counter," i.e., without a prescription. What kind of a headline would you write for an antacid
tablet which would work with your visual to reinforce the concept of "trust?"
Keep in mind that the creative connection depends upon you ability to compare ideas. The idea
visualization process will attempt to-mesh Ideas you know about your audience-emotions,
values, attitudes, desires, and needs-with what you know about your product. This process is
aided by assembling many times more material than would be used in the ad. To compile this
information, read everything produced by your client, talk to every "old timer" in the company,
study the product, talk to consumers. When you have more than enough, the possibilities are
enormous.
The creative connection attempts to connect "people" attributes with product characteristics'" and
then develop. a message in words and pictures which will appeal to the target audience. An
essential part of process is the consideration of the perceptual fames of reference of your target
audience. The objective of the _ message is to evoke response from as much of the audience as
possible. Perceptual psychology has given us a clue to patterns of thinking and how our mind
processes visual stimuli.
IDEAS COME FROM THE LEFT AND RIGHT
Part of the excitement of working in the field .of advertising is the constant updating of
psychological concepts that can be put to work in our field. The analysis of consumer motivation
and behavior struggles to keep up with new scientific data and with the resulting information
about the way people act and react. From these new speculations, the question has arisen about
the effect of the growing awareness concerning the differences between the right and the left
hemispheres of the brain. What effect will this have on the planning of advertising both for copy
and visuals? While the differences have been known for some time, it is only lately that the
subject has been treated by skilled writers for presentation outside of the scientific world.
Subsequently, some advertising research people have taken up the study in an effort to apply
what is known to the creation of more effective advertising.
Carl Sagan of Cornell University is considered by many to be a leader among those scientists
who can write on important scientific subjects in such a way that the rest of us can understand.
Some of the information that follows is based on his writings.
The left hemisphere of the brain provides reasoning and verbal skills; it processes information
sequentially (step by step). The right hemisphere provides us with intuition and intuitive
responses; it processes information simultaneously (all at once). For example, when we dream,
the right hemisphere takes over, while the left is suppressed. The left hemisphere recognizes
words; the right, signs and symbols. The left responds to a logical verbal presentation, while the
right responds to color and to total patterns. However, Sagan cautions: "It is vital not to
overestimate the separation of functions on either side. .
