How to Apply Design Science on a Shoestring Budget

Many artists and brands operate under the misconception that effective market research and design optimization are luxuries reserved for the big players with deep pockets. However, this couldn't be further from the truth. With innovative tools and a bit of ingenuity, small brands and artists can employ sophisticated design theory and science without breaking the bank

As a creative professional in marketing working with medium sized brands, my job is often to bring effective marketing concepts down to scale with the budget at hand while finding ways to catch customers attention effectively and convey the desired message. This doesn't have to mean that market research techniques have to be off the table though, far from it in fact. Here is one of my favorite tools that can allow individuals and small brands to utilize aspects of design science to improve their designs effectiveness:

This isnt sponsored or affiliated in any way. 3M VAS truly is one of the most interesting and underrated tools I have used as a creative professional, and anyone making packaging, web graphics, or album art should be using it if you want to stand out from competitors and understand what consumers see in your designs. VAS stands for "Visual Attention Software", and it is an affordable and accurate substitute for expensive eye tracking studies. What does that mean for a designer though?

Essentially, 3M VAS lets you understand where your customers eyes will go on your design within the first 5 seconds. With a claimed 92% accuracy, the machine learning system trained by 3M on real customer eye tracking can give you an idea of how your packaging will be preconceived, and in what order elements will be looked at.

The magic of this software reveals itself as soon as you drop in your first design. After dragging boxes around the attention areas of your design, you are quickly greeted with an easy to understand "heat map" of activity, showing what in your design is going to catch peoples attention. This can be practically applied to identify of your design is poorly weighted or not drawing viewers to the information you need it to.

Why use this if you already think your design looks good?

Your design might look good to you as its creator, but you might not have any way to get it in front of the public until after you've already pushed it out and have no control over it. 3M VAS can act as a gut check to make sure that your design reads the way you want it, in the order you expect.

When your album is among a sea of others on an app, or your product is on a shelf with 6 competitors with better pricing or more premium brand recognition, you only have seconds to catch peoples attentions. First impressions are everything for small brands and individuals, and 3M can reveal when your products are not conveying the desired message.

Take this bag of dog treats example for instance. The bag design on the left is the better choice, because the weight of the logo is smaller, people spend less time looking at it and more time looking at the bacon, the dog, and the product info. People looking at the bag on the right only come to understand that the brand is Luna and it's a dog treat, while those on the right understand that it is a bacon flavored dog treat.

By taking the time to understand how customers may preconceive a package and making tweaks, even solo designers can apply design science principles in ways that truly matter. For your next design, consider how small changes like color, sizing, placement, and texture might draw people towards or away from seeing the actual desired info in your designs, and towards irrelevant details. With 3M VAS and a mindset of design science, even low budget operations can vastly improve their visual information sharing.