I’d like to talk about your feelings.

Specifically your feelings when they meet graphic design in the wild.

You know, on the shop shelves or on the delivery packaging you’re haphazardly tearing open or in the company HQ lobby you’ve just walked into.

Because in those moments of choice, excitement and anticipation – even if you’re a marketeer or brand owner yourself – I doubt you’re thinking about the strategy behind whatever design elements you’re experiencing.

I think, as you reach, rip and explore, you’re feeling things.

And you’re feeling these things because of the images in front of you. The colours, forms and language in front of you.

I bet you know that there’s a particular shade of blue, or juxtaposition of triangles and circles, or evocative bunch of words, that never fails to party happily in your subconscious.

That hazy lens flair reminding you of the fading childhood photograph up on your nan’s mantlepiece. The black letter font that speaks to the teenage metal fan who never really went away. The colour palette that makes you feel optimistic in a solar punk kind of way.

Or your own version of those design elements.

The ones your feelings respond immediately to.

When I talk with a client about creating graphic design I take their strategy very seriously, it informs so much.

But I also take seriously the nebulous world of subconscious feelings.

To think of graphic design as an important ‘big idea’ with some nice aesthetics on top, is to forget the effect that beauty and images have on your feelings out in the real world.