A thousand Words: The superPower of Visuals

In 2016 the filmmaker Dimitri Basil made a series of enigmatic, yet mesmerising music videos for the Kings of Leon album WALLS. These videos were visually stunning, yet they didn’t seem to make any obvious sense or have any apparent connection to the songs - visuals in music rarely do - but they worked brilliantly: Basil's videos grasped fans' attention and left a prominent mark in popular culture. In fact, the music industry invests thoroughly in music videos and album art, even in the era of downloading, because visuals are there to convey a vibe and become cultural icons, solidifying the brand appeal of the musician and the recording studio.

Why is this relevant to architecture and property?

This is because humans are such visual creatures.

Images talk to us on so many levels. They are emotive, intriguing, visceral. They affect both the conscious and the unconscious. They draw us in. They stay with us. They haunt us. They are the genesis of our memories and too often the genesis of historical events. They are what we understand. They are what we remember. Think of all iconic historical events, and you will remember the imagery associated with it.

This explains social media’s ubiquitous reach. Every occasion, every get-together, every meal, every trip, every fitting in a shop has to be photographed - otherwise, it never existed.

And by images, I mean media that combine art with photography with collage with text with video.

So visuals, as much as they foster creativity, are not only art for art's sake. They are also marketing goldmines: Consumer brands harness the power of imagery to communicate with consumers so as to create desire, form a connection and stand out amongst competition. Imagery is inherent to brand recognition and consumer buy-in. They also define the trends and styles of the age.

Poignant marketing and branding visuals are the ones that are the most enigmatic because spoon-feeding the consumer robs the consumer of agency of interpretation. By engaging the consumer as an active participant, brands build loyalties.

But it’s not only fashion that capitalises on imagery. Music also does it. Tech also does it. Cinema also does it.

So what role do visuals play in architecture and property development? Better yet, what role can visuals play in architecture and property development?

In architecture and property, visuals are seen as utilitarian representations to illustrate what the space may look like. Whether to convey a design in a pitch or whether to market the space, architectural visuals always come across as tools, as by-products, as an after-thought. The way the development is structured to be marketed influences the way this development is designed. And the result is too often very generic. Developers only end up selling the bricks-and-mortar rather than the lifestyle or the vibe, the intangible assets where the real profit lies, especially in a crowded and fiercely competitive property market.

But what if the mindset changes? What if architects, agents and developers took a leaf from the book of all other consumer brands to invest in visuals? What if architects, agents and developers unleashed the full potential of images to innovate in design, marketing and branding and to really communicate with their target consumers and enshrine their position as trailblazing rather than derivative?