Feed My Senses When You're Talking to Me

The importance of understanding the micro-elements of communication. 

Let’s pretend for a moment that someone is telling you about a movie they recently watched. Now, if you’re any way like me you may have some questions for the storyteller such as; what movie was it? What was the theater like? Did you have snacks? People are not interested in stories unless they can lean into this idea of immersion. In order for someone to feel as though it is a story that they can relate to, they need all their senses to be fed and that is where micro-elements can come into play. 

What Are Micro-Elements? 

Micro-elements are composed of various formats such as: static visuals, dynamic visuals, music, static text, moving text, speaking, and even the absence of something can add to the layers of communication. Most marketers may only believe that an advertisement needs to be visually appealing, but they should not forget the impact our other senses could have. 

For example, let’s take a look at this book series shown on the top right. Now, the books themselves are seemingly fine on their own but they may not draw someone in because all you have to engage with are the static visuals.  While there may not be anything inherently wrong with these covers, or marketing them to readers, we can do better.

The Vampire Academy collaboration event between Richelle Mead and Litjoy is an excellent example of giving the consumer more. You want pretty covers? Check. You want covers that have differentiating textures that you can glide your fingers over? Check. You want an entire experience when unboxing these from their case? Triple check. We’ve even got the absence of the bold title fonts that take over the entire page, causing the books themselves to feel more antique and thus more valuable.