Brands & content that
intrigue and resonate.
Themes culled &
choreographed
to guide and compell.
Delivery imbued with
comprehension-boosting nuance.
That’s Pixel Relish.
Content Services
Catch the eyes and ears of your audiences, only don't stop there: Guide through useful layers of information in rapport-building ways; weave a succession of complementary content across channels; stimulate interest; heighten comprehension; invite engagement. All the while, evolve a brand that feels tangible, dimensional, alive.
Pixel Relish can help:
Goal Clarification & Defining
Creative Direction
Micro to Macro Content Strategy & Development
UX Strategy & Development
Theme & Message Hierarchies
Brand Services
Build company and product brands that feel dimensional, personable, sentient. Iterate on micro and macro levels in ways that keep the brand fresh, relevant. Mould “on brand” into something freeing and leading rather than narrowing and constrictive. Infuse your brand with a vibe that, for your audience, inspires engagement.
Pixel Relish can help:
Brand-centric, Story-centric Creative Direction (UX, UI, and beyond)
Brand Themes, Personas, & Identity Development
Brand Strategies, Including Audience Personas Extrapolated from Data
Brand Stories Built to Engage
Hey Simplicity:
Come meet Rich.
Now there's one powerful,
user-friendly alliance.
Step Beyond Tell:
Evoke.
Call on tenets of rich simplicity®
to shape engaging,
brand-evolving content and media.
"Keep it simple."
A tried and true communications mantra. Only how…
…, if everyone “keeps it simple,” do you help your content stand out; much less be remembered; much less be remembered as yours rather than, mistakenly, a competitor's or your industry's in general, …
… and how do you concurrently invite comprehension, encourage engagement, advance your brand, and further rapport with audiences, all without abandoning simplicity?
Hello, rich simplicity.
Remember
- A message that doesn't connect with audiences isn't communication.
The Power of Story & Nuance: A Quick (and Tasty) Example
One late August my great aunt dropped by with the most option-rich cheese grater imaginable: Six perforated columns, each grouping a gradation up in hole size from its clockwise neighbor, striped each panel. "For your famous Caesar salads," she said.
A handsome utensil — its hexagonal shape sculpture-esque in the right light, and its weighted, ergonomic handle inviting to hold. But also nine inches tall and nearly as wide. Where in my jam-packed, tiny kitchen could I store it? My slim one-hole-size-shreds-all flat grater slid easily between flatware caddy and drawer front. And it did a serviceable job, didn't it? Shred thickness — not a major factor, particularly to a non-foodie like myself, right? Loving my aunt, though, I graciously accepted the gift and, sure enough, found space for it inside a stack of mixing bowls, the measuring beaker that used to be there moved to the give-away bag.
I did some experimenting: Bought two types of Parmesan cheese (both sharp, one moreso) and grated each into a fine, medium, and broad strand pile before moving on to the rest of the salad — seasoning the wooden serving bowl with freshly peeled garlic; mashing anchovies along the bowl's base; whisking in olive oil, a coddled egg, and some freshly squeezed lemon juice; tossing in the washed, hand-torn romaine and homemade croutons. A duo of friends joined me in dolling out the in-progress salad into six test bowls, tossing each with one style of cheese (sharpness plus grate diameter). A few turns of black pepper, and we served up test plates and dug in. Much to our surprise, we tasted distinct differences per cheese and per grate style. And, we each formed clear preferences.
The Winner:
The sharp cheese complemented the other flavors nicely. But only when grated finely, which made the salad look more fast food than festive.
Medium and broad strands of cheese served up the “lovingly homemade” ambiance. The sharp strands at those sizes unfortunately overwhelmed the other flavors (and my test audiences' palettes). I dished up new bowls, adding less sharp (the more conservative the friend's palette, the more sparingly I went): both taste and presentation soon teetered on bland.
On to the medium aged Parm: It lost its distinct flavor when grated finely (we'd stepped from fast-food look-alike to also blah taste-alike). However, at particularly the broad grate size, distinct yet complementary flavor. Too, pleasing swaths of visual contrast with the dark greens, toasted croutons, and black dots of pepper.
The winner: The medium age Parm grated in broad strands — far broader than my old, flat utensil could do. Thank you, Auntie!
Takeaways
- Look for ingredients that can contribute on multiple levels (in this case, flavor + presentation). My Rhyme & Reason precept for content development.
- Know your ingredients + how they complement and offset one another, then look for ways to tweak them to an improved result.
- Master your tools, definitely, yet be open to and experiment with possible alternatives. Who knows, you might stumble onto something fabulous.
- Understand and celebrate your audience's preferences and expectations. That said, consider taking your audience a breath, even two, past their tried and true comfort zone.
Nuance Your Way to an Illusion of Simplicity
The power of simplicity lies not in simpleness, per se, but in an impression of it — of it enriched by complementary undertones of far more — into what I call rich simplicity.
Rich simplicity improves communication from multiple angles from a foundation built in storytelling, in using elements of storytelling to converse with multiple levels of cognition instead of with logic-focused core brains alone. Richly simplistic content is less tiring for audiences to process, which helps people stick with it longer — and have more energy to respond.
Attempts to lighten logic-intense content by lopping off text can starve audiences of reasons to trust and engage. So instead, yes, let's pare down the verbiage; let's certainly nix phrasing that sounds just like our competitors'. Let's instead shape elements outlined belowat right to convey rather than tell the information. Not only will that make the content less cumbersome, it also helps brains more readily take it in.
Developing rich "simple" content starts with accurately analyzing our own intent in light of our audience and its heirarchy of needs. Too, mastering relevant tools so we can recognize fresh, useful ways to employ them (think rhyme and, not or, reason). Rich simplicity is as limitless as the skills and creativity of the individual(s) and team creating it.
Harmonizing so many inputs can be daunting. Not to worry: I'm putting together some pointers.
My rich simplicity articles stem from my 30+ years as a professional content writer and editor, storyteller, UX designer (print and HTML), and HTML coder (using Bootstrap or other basis). Its tenets apply to most forms of communication and can help both with figuring out what you're trying to say and finding ways to optimally convey that message.
Articles will explore theory, sure, but more so offer hands-on tips and examples, each framed to stimulate ideas and discussions to help content professionals, business leaders, even teachers, better assess and present information to their and their audiences' mutual benefit.
Join in the fun: Subscribe below at right.
Opportunity Knocking
As in salad building, each ingredient of communication building is an opportunity to flavor and influence perception. On multiple levels. Flavor (taste), aroma (smell), presentation (sight): What can we tinker with? To what effect(s)?
Play ingredients off one another. Create a whole more enticing than its parts. Use story and story elements to ping interlinking levels of cognition so people can more easily process the content. Heighten interest. Invite engagement.
Play with…
- story (throughline, arc, mood)
- point of view
- tone, mood
- color
- contrast
- motion (literal, implied)
- rhythms
…through your use of …
- word choice, phrasing, syntax
- lighting (photos, white space)
- layout
- delivery medium
- delivery environment
- existing relationship(s) with audience(s)
Affect state of mind.
Subscribe to Rich Simplicty
Pop in your email address, click Send, and you're all set: Rich simplicity tips, tools, stories, and analyses will come directly to your email inbox. (And no, I never sell nor share submitted information.)
Pose a Question or Topic Suggestion
If you are struggling with a particular communication challenge, or you have a general question about rich simplicity, let me know: I'll try to integrate into an upcoming blog post tidbits relevant to your particular situation.
Taste of Pixel Relish
All projects, concept through implementation, by Sheila Dent, dba Pixel Relish, unless otherwise noted. More samples plus related software proficiencies on my Behance page.
+
Years of
Professional
Experience
Ideas
Yet to
Explore
That Pixel Relish Flavor
Pixel Relish blends a mind for analysis and separating germane from superfluous detail, with an ear for diction useful beyond top-level meaning, with an eye for visuals that further both brand and message, with a heart passionate about successful communication.
Think communiation arts meet tool mastery meets decades-cultivated intuition meets seasoned market analyses.
It's a flavor, typically cordial, that invites comprehension.
Pixel Relish recipes are client- and audience-specific. Each includes ingredients serving audience wants and needs while furthering brand rapport, however the spices (aka, tools) used per recipe and thus specific flavor achieved varies client to client, audience to audience, strategy to strategy, and thus project to project.
Add a bit of Pixel Relish to your next project — perhaps as a complement to your in-house efforts; perhaps as a stand-alone kit and kaboodle. Either way, let's unveil, build, and strengthen threads connecting you and your audience.
For your…
Brand Strategy + Brand Story Development
Content Strategy + Development
UX + Related Development
Pixel Relish.
Inquire Today
Let's Get to Work
Tell me about that upcoming project of yours that could use a dash — or two — of Pixel Relish.
