Feelings over facts
Creative directors and CMOs often find themselves asking the same question: Why aren’t people getting it? Whether you’re selling a climate tech solution, pitching a new category, or trying to cut through general market indifference, the answer often lies in how our brains process (or refuse to process) information.
Two recent studies shine a light on a deceptively simple insight: People don’t interpret. They feel. And when it comes to driving decisions, feeling wins.
The binary advantage
A 2025 study by Rachit Dubey and his co-authors at Stanford tested how people responded to different kinds of climate change visualizations. The most compelling? Not data-packed graphs or heatmaps, but binary images — visuals that show a clear “before” and “after.” Think: green forest to charred land. Coastal neighborhood to underwater ghost town.
“These binary visualizations create the illusion of sudden change, even when the underlying data is gradual,” Dubey wrote. “This illusion increases people’s perception of risk and urgency.”
In this graphic, note not just the obvious yes/no framing, but the word choice in the labels: “safe” or “not safe.” No guessing here.
Why loss framing works
Binary visuals work in part because they lean into loss framing, a well-documented behavioral economics concept that shows we react more strongly to losses than to gains. Researchers at Tilburg University found that loss-framed climate messages were more likely to prompt emotional reactions and encourage pro-environmental decisions than those that emphasized potential benefits.
With or without labels, with or without scale, a good binary image can easily show change that matters to the story.
Why this matters beyond climate
These insights aren’t just useful for cleantech journalists or marketers highlighting climate realities. They’re relevant for anyone trying to communicate complexity clearly and drive action in healthcare, energy, or other industries powered by new technology.
When you’re explaining a product that doesn’t yet exist, or a shift that feels invisible, ask yourself:
- Can we show a “before” and “after”?
- Can we make the stakes visible, not as a future possibility but a present reality?
- Are we asking people to interpret data, or helping them feel what’s changed?
What creative teams should do
During his monumental “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of “the fierce urgency of now” — a call to confront crisis not with caution, but with conviction. For creative directors, the lesson is clear: if urgency is part of your message, design like it. Binary visuals and loss framing aren’t just climate tools. They’re communication strategies for any brand trying to move people, not just inform them.
Show what’s changed. Make it real. Make it felt. Then make it matter.