Your Brand Will Flop If It Doesn't Stand Out. Try the Contrarian Design Strategy That Worked for These 6 Founders. From chocolate bars to pet care, you may recognize these brands when you see them — and their founders made deliberate decisions to make that happen. Here, they explain how they zeroed in on aesthetics that stand out.

How many times have you walked past a storefront, perused a grocery store aisle, or scrolled through your Instagram feed and experienced a little "I want that!" ping to your brain after seeing a particularly compelling image? That, in a nutshell, is the power of great design.

According to research from Insights in Marketing, 93% of consumers say a product's appearance is the most important factor in their purchasing decisions, and 85% say they're heavily influenced by the colors of a product or brand. And because the average consumer spends so much time looking at their phone, brands have more ways than ever to make a visual impact. Bankrate found that 48% of social media users have impulsively bought something advertised to them on social media, and a whopping 72% of Instagram users base their buying decisions on content they see on the platform.

So, in a time when consumers are endlessly bombarded with brands, how do you create something that stands out? Something unconventional and unexpected, but still appealing to the established tastes of your customers? We asked some founders who leaned on design to build best-selling brands. One common strategy? They all looked at their categories and figured out what wasn't there, and designed into that blank space.

1. The company that brought color to the chocolate aisle

Jean Thompson, owner and CEO of Seattle Chocolate Company

"When I first took over Seattle Chocolate in 2002, I was surprised that the chocolate aisle consisted of serious-looking, earth-toned, monochromatic bars. I could not imagine a category that was so mismatched with its consumer's needs. Chocolate was a male-dominated industry, and they didn't seem to understand the relationship that women have with chocolate — as close to a love affair as one can have with food.

Related: 10 Creative Content Ideas Inspired by Gary Vaynerchuk to Break Through the Noise

I immediately went to work changing our packaging to include patterns and colors and things I saw in the cosmetic or fashion world — categories that tailor everything they do to women. We took our all-gold truffles and made each flavor a different vibrant color. We added wild, mismatched graphics to our line of bars, and started having fun with our gift boxes.

This was the beginning of a 21-year journey of evolving our graphics and leading packaging innovation in our industry. We partner with independent artists to design our wraps so that they each feel like special gifts. We change our designs for holidays every three to four years. Most chocolate companies just change up a ribbon or flourish, but we start from scratch and do something completely different. All of this reflects the role we feel chocolate plays in our lives — a small celebration. Our direction to designers is to make the colors bold, the pictures whimsical and uplifting, and to bring fun and humor to people's lives."

2. The pots and pans that pop in your social media feed

Jordan Nathan, founder and CEO of Caraway

"From the beginning, we wanted to stand out from other cookware brands by being design-led instead of food-focused. We wanted Caraway's identity to be distinctive and timeless, and for our products to look just as good sitting on your stove or counter as they are useful. We turned to Box Clever, who has worked with brands such as Away, July, and Social Studies. We were excited that they had never worked on cookware before, because we wanted to completely break category norms. They brought a fresh perspective, but still understood how to solve the user experience through design. This really helped us stand out on social media feeds."

3. The sports bar that makes customers feel like country club kings

Adam Fulton, cofounder of The Garret Group and Rocco's

"One nice thing about being a hospitality entrepreneur is that our brands live in a physical space — a four-walled environment that our customers enter and experience viscerally. We recently opened Rocco's Sports & Recreation, which is our take on a "sports bar." We wanted it to feel elevated in a new way for a sports-anchored environment, while maintaining playfulness.

We worked with a branding agency, Combo, to bring this design vision to life. Green and purple were chosen as the primary branding colors — purple is the color of royalty and green reminds us of turf and grass fields.

In terms of the physical space, many of the signage elements are designed to mimic scoreboards of various types. And we worked with darker stained woods and brass fixtures throughout the property that channeled the design aesthetic of a prestigious country club locker room. The menu was envisioned to remind guests of a scorecard and the food itself is inspired by dishes served across stadiums, living rooms, and tailgates — but all with an elevated twist."

4. The furniture brand with a constantly evolving aesthetic

Sara Sugarman Brenner, founder and CEO, Lulu and Georgia

"When I initially launched Lulu and Georgia, I collaborated with a designer. The goal was to set ourselves apart from conventional retailers by adopting a more feminine and current look. Our color scheme revolved around pink and gold, complemented by illustrations throughout the site. This aesthetic was a reflection of the era and our product selection aligned accordingly, featuring a range of glam and bohemian pieces.

Related: 4 Startup Branding Trends That Are Finding Success

But as we grew and found our voice, we made deliberate changes to elevate our branding and product assortment from its original incarnation. Over the years, we've realized we don't wish to confine ourselves to a single aesthetic.

Our team is extremely passionate about interiors and product design, appreciating a multitude of eras, styles and trends. When it comes to our popular collaborations, we work with designers who showcase vastly different styles. Our customers now rely on us for that eclectic blend. So [a simple design] gives our team the freedom to design and curate based on our current inspirations, ensuring that our brand remains in a constant state of evolution."

Old Look:

New Look:

5. The espresso martini brand that dumped brown

Taylor Grant, cofounder and CEO of Tribini

"When we designed the Tribini brand, we knew we wanted to be different. It would have been easy to dive into color schemes that were obvious. Browns and blacks equal espresso martini, right? But we wanted to capture the vibes of our target audience and what they are attracted to. We asked ourselves important questions: Where do people drink espresso martinis and what do those places look like? What color palettes do we see popular luxury brands utilize? What evokes a luxury experience? This led us to featuring gold and rich colors and a design that looks like something you want to touch and explore, much like an exotic car, a vibey cocktail lounge, or even a luxury handbag. We only pivoted away from certain design elements when we felt like we were resembling other products on the market. We wanted Tribini to stand on its own and make a statement."

6. The brand that makes veterinary care fun

Joe Spector, founder and CEO of Dutch (formerly of HIMS)

"We worked closely with [branding consultancy] Red Antler to develop a distinct identity for Dutch. Picking a color that was not "traditional" in the veterinary care industry was important for us, and allowed another point of differentiation from our competition. Taking my learnings from HIMS, where we used a millennial pink because it was not the expected color in the medical category, we wanted something that would stand out in the vet and pet industry. Dutch's signature yellow invokes a sense of warmth and happiness with a vibrant and playful attitude, while standing out from the traditional blue, red and white that consumers see elsewhere. The "D" in the Dutch logo also mimics a pet's tail to point to the "tail-wagging" service Dutch provides."