As a designer in marketing, we’ve all heard the term “consumer touch-point” in reference to the shopping experience. But, from a designer’s perspective,
but does this term adequately cover the spectrum of things that we as designers produce? Well, obviously not. Maybe it’s just me, but wouldn’t it be liberating to once and for all have a go-to phrase that best describes the diverse set of skills and resulting work we (as a design community) produce?
I get it. From a consumer marketing point of view, it makes sense. The consumer touch-point covers the gamut, bridging the gap between when people first engage with a brand and the many interchanges leading up to the point of purchase—encompassing TV ads, email follow-ups, and the many connections in between.
Consumer behaviors aside, how we refer to the array of thoughtfully designed engagements that we (as a general population) interface with daily, including most everything we see and often touch in our daily discourse, deserves a classification all its own. It matters. And, how we speak of these things deserves a moniker worthier than just ‘stuff.’
With this in mind, I offer up “visual touch-point” —a term that captures the full spectrum of work (commercial and functional) that we (as designers) dedicate our lives to advancing across this great land. A nomenclature that encapsulates the vast range of human engagements that not only include the shopping experience but fall outside of it. The visual touch-point is the king of all terms. One that resides over a boundless landscape of handcrafted interactions, no longer solely relegated to the remote island of consumerism.
