TLDR In a world of skimmed text and endless scrolling, the right visual can spark real change. At Lirio, we craft images that inform, inspire, and drive healthier choices
People are reading less than ever. Book consumption is down, and online we’re more likely to skim, scroll, and swipe than slow down for long passages of text. Short, personalized, highly visual content has become the norm; just ask the cats who have built entire internet empires without writing a word.
Traditionally, health communication relies on words spoken by clinicians, printed in pamphlets, or written into apps. Yet research shows that visuals can be far more powerful in shaping understanding and action (Garcia-Retamero & Galesic, 2010). Well-designed graphics improve comprehension and reduce bias, while tailored videos often outperform generic ones (Tuong, Larsen, et al., 2014). Despite this evidence, visuals in health campaigns are still too often treated as decoration rather than deliberate, evidence-based tools.
Images influence behavior in three key ways:
- Attention: A compelling visual is processed faster than text and can interrupt scrolling or spark curiosity (yes, much like a cat in a shark costume riding a Roomba).
- Emotion: Pictures evoke immediate reactions like pride, fear, comfort, or hope that shape willingness to act.
- Memory: Visuals are sticky; we are far more likely to remember information paired with a strong image than just text alone.
Visuals are particularly powerful for people with lower health literacy. Studies show that images improve comprehension and recall, helping individuals better understand and act on health recommendations (Park & Zuniga, 2016). From a behavioral science perspective, visuals can strengthen capability, giving people the knowledge and confidence to make informed health choices.
Testing and learning about images at Lirio
In our own research we discovered that adding a single, thoughtfully designed image to a text message about vaccination could change not just how people perceived the message but how they felt about it. Participants described these messages as:
Friendly: approachable and easy to understand
Trustworthy: inspiring confidence in the information
Engaging: capturing attention and sparking interest
Credible: aligned with professional health standards-
Acceptable: well-received across diverse audiences
But the impact went beyond perception. Participants also reported greater intent to vaccinate when communications included behaviorally infused visuals, regardless of channel. A well designed image didn’t just make the message more appealing. It also made people more likely to want to act. This research reinforces a key insight: visuals aren’t just decoration. They’re powerful tools for behavior change when designed with intention and grounded in behavioral science.
How We Turn Behavioral Science Into Effective Visuals
At Lirio, our approach is deliberately collaborative. Every image starts with a design share-out from our behavioral scientists, who outline the relevant Behavior Change Techniques (BCTs) and highlight the key barriers and motivators for the intended behavior. This ensures that every visual is grounded in evidence and aesthetics.
A Behavior Change Technique (BCT) is a specific, evidence-based method used to influence behavior. It’s like a building block in behavior change interventions a small, purposeful action or element that helps people adopt, maintain, or stop a behavior. In short, BCTs are the “active ingredients” that make behavior change interventions work they’re what nudges someone toward a desired action and we convey these in text and visual form in each intervention.
Next, our visual designers enter an ideation phase sketching and exploring a wide range of concepts. These ideas are shared back with the behavioral team for feedback, creating a creative loop where science and design inform each other.
Once concepts are ready, each image is reviewed ‘blind’ by two behavioral scientists, who score how effectively the intended BCTs come through. Only concepts that pass this review move into production whether as illustrations, photographic treatments, or mixed-media designs and are further refined to maximize their behavioral impact.
What makes this approach different is the attention to detail. From color palettes to icons, each element is chosen intentionally, informed by both UX research and behavioral science. The result is more than a visually appealing image; it’s a concise, emotionally resonant story designed to build capability, enable opportunity, and strengthen motivation, supporting all three domains of the COM-B model.
Mammography Intervention Sample
BCT: Social Support (Emotional)
BCT: Incentive (Outcome)
BCT: Comparative Imagining of Future Outcomes
BCT: Feedback on the Behavior
The takeaway
In today’s fast-paced, visual-first world, words alone aren’t enough. Health communication must meet people where they are on screens, in social feeds, and in moments of distraction. By combining behavioral science with intentional visual design, we can create images that not only inform but truly inspire action.