What is Digital Art

When I told my parents I was going to major in digital art, my decision was met with echoing questions:

“What even is that?”

“How are you going to make a living?”

Now 10 years out of college and as the Senior Digital Art Director at Karsh Hagan, I understand that these questions aren’t far from what we hear from prospects and clients on a daily basis.

“What is digital art, and how can it help our brand’s advertising strategy?” Let’s start from the top.

What is Digital Art?

Digital art is an artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process.

Digital art is all around us. It’s everywhere we look. From movies like Pixar’s ‘Toy Story’ to apps like Instagram, digital art has introduced modes of storytelling that were once impossible, making it a valuable and limitless tool for advertising.

Why is Digital Art a Successful Marketing Tactic?

Now, more than ever, we’re a visually driven society. It’s no coincidence that we’re naturally drawn to images, when you consider that 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual, and that our brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. The brain’s preference for images even impacts how memory is formed as 80% of people remember what they see, compared to 20 percent of what they read. That makes digital art an especially important tactic for brands looking to create a campaign that’s as efficient as it is impactful.

What is the Difference Between Digital Art and Traditional Art?

When it comes to advertising, the difference between digital art and traditional art is simple. There are no gatekeepers. Anyone with a phone in their pocket and a little bit of creativity can create and share their art. Unlike the billboards or magazines of the past, online apps allow artists to instantly publish their work for free for all to see.

The success of digital art within that context comes down to ROI. Delivering the highest return on your investment requires the ability to measure, analyze, and adapt your strategy – it requires the ability to learn. Digital art is iterative and efficient – allowing us to easily track engagement rates that let us fail fast, tweak, and refine. We can then use that information to employ data-proven digital art across all marketing channels, ultimately delivering a product that best serves your brand and your audience.

How You Can Use Digital Art In Brand Advertising

At Karsh Hagan, we have used our understanding to create beautiful and effective marketing campaigns for our clients. For VISIT DENVER we created an immersive world that targeted convention planners all over the country. We created three unique videos, using 2.5D animation. These videos were seen by over 462,610 people and counting! Check out the work here:

Leveraging Digital Art to Drive a Marketing Campaign

For another client, SonderMind, we developed a digital campaign to bring awareness to online mental health resources. We connected with SonderMind’s target audience on multiple levels, from people who had never heard of SonderMind, to people who needed a friendly reminder. By leveraging the customer journey map to create multiple audience-based digital ad sets and corresponding landing pages, we were able to connect with, educate, and convert more than 100k new customer request and deliver millions of dollars in incremental revenue.

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Let’s Make Some Digital Art Together

Digital art is a critical component of any serious modern marketing strategy. It can be created and shared across multiple platforms and easily tracked for engagement rates that inform a data-directed strategy.

It’s easy to learn what works and what doesn’t based on your goals, and leverage it to build a business or your career. So, the next time your parents or your business associates ask you why we need digital art, let ‘em know!

If you or anyone you know is looking to create digital campaigns that convert, look no further! We’re here to elevate everything that’s possible for your brand. Contact us for more information.

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