Avoiding Visual Bias

?Bienvenidos! Welcome! Branding Forward is a bi-weekly newsletter where you'll learn how to use empathy-driven strategies and color psychology to invigorate, evolve and amplify your unique brand position. 

Our visual communication is crucial to any brand. Before anyone reads your copy, whether it's incredibly compelling or not, we will always notice the visuals first. In a matter of split seconds, people will form an opinion, conscious or subconscious, about what they see. As people are finally starting to be more aware of cultural inclusion, we still have work to do.

Here are three ways to avoid visual bias in your branding:

Are you changing it up to communicate with a specific demographic? Do you use more eloquent language for a particular demographic and plain language directed to low-income communities?

Or perhaps you want to communicate with the Hispanic or Latin community. Make sure the people involved in your communication efforts are fluent and native speakers! I once had a co-worker insist that we should have content in Spanish that referred to children as “cabritos.” When I asked what that meant, he shared that’s what his grandmother called him. Many Hispanics or Latinos would have considered this term as a goat — that would have backfired considering this was for a zoo!  

If you want to build a connection to a specific culture, consider how your brand colors can impact the perception of your brand. Let's take the Latin & Hispanic markets. We are vastly diverse, with different traditions and connections to color, yet many lump us together as one.

Have you experienced the joy of a soccer game? Then you've likely experienced how much colors mean to a team and their country. Some of us may feel more connected to specific colors, especially if they are related to our country’s flag. Red, yellow and blue can hold a deeper meaning for Colombians, Venezuelans, or Ecuadorians as they are the colors of their flag. But these same colors may not hold much meaning for a Brazilian or Argentinian. Doing research beyond a harmonious color palette is important when relating to color and culture.

We often have the best intentions when communicating to a diverse market. However, when we fail to check our content, we can end up insulting an entire community.

Many brands that want to appeal to the broad Latin & Hispanic market will use maracas, sombreros, tacos, and calaveras in their graphics. Unless you are focusing on the Mexican Mariachi culture, maracas and sombreros for branding have visual bias. That doesn't encompass the rich and diverse heritage we have as Latinos and Hispanics. Tacos and calaveras are also not inclusive of all Latin and Hispanic heritage. 

Perhaps you’re not doing this, but what about your photos or graphics?

(Images above are examples of visual bias from my Color and Culture course on LinkedIn Learning)

Are you implementing a balanced approach that uses people of color in your photography or illustrations? Let's take it a step further. Consider what positions do people of color hold in these images. Are they shown as doctors, lawyers, successful business owners?

While many brands are making an effort to be more conscious of their communication, we still have a lot of work to do in this area. The truth is ANY business can start to make a positive impact by being intentional with any biases across their visuals. And when you aren’t sure, hire the right people with cultural backgrounds who can help you avoid visual bias. 

Color and Cultural Connections matter more than ever. If you want to get a deeper dive and learn how to become more aware and make a difference in your community or company, check out my popular LinkedIn Learning course Color and Cultural Connections. Don’t just take my word for it. Here’s what learners are sharing about my course.

Nicte Cuevas (owner of Nicte Creative Design) is an award-winning brand strategist and graphic designer who uses empathy-driven methods to help evolve, invigorate, and amplify businesses’ unique brand positions. Nicte translates the complexities of color into purpose-driven stories using color psychology and intentional messaging tools, ultimately facilitating positive and profitable outcomes. She’s proudly partnered with multiple brands such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Spark with Twitter Business, LinkedIn, Dogs on Deployment (a Purina partnership), and The Houston Zoo. As a LinkedIn Learning instructor, Nicte has taught thousands across the world with courses on branding, color psychology, and design.