Sometimes it makes sense to intrigue an audience. A cover that’s a bit cryptic and says ‘can you guess what I’m about?’ might be just what’s needed to persuade the audience to take notice – particularly in a cluttered environment when audiences don’t know that you have something interesting to say.
But intrigue only works when there’s a pay-off. There needs to be a moment of discovery – when the audience makes the connection and realises the logic behind the message. That’s the moment when the message makes sense – and the moment when the message becomes memorable.
When the intrigue doesn’t work, the message doesn’t work either. If the audience is left wondering how or why there’s a relationship between the intrigue/picture/initial message and the follow-through, then the communication falls flat.
I picked up this postcard recently:
