5 ways that good graphic design can help your business
As former IBM CEO Thomas Watson Jr. told Wharton students in 1973, “good design is good business.” Investing in your company’s image and branding is a long-term strategy that has paid off for many businesses.
It’s easy to skimp on your company’s graphic design, but your customers – and potential customers – can tell the difference. Here are five reasons why investing in top quality professional graphic design makes good business sense.
1. It makes you look professional: You have a few seconds to make a good first impression on potential customers and clients. That first impression might be your website, your business card, your brochure or catalog. And while your customers may not be design experts, they can sense whether your promotional material is an amateur effort or professionally done. No matter how big your company is, poorly done graphics can give the impression that your firm is small, outdated and possibly undependable. On the flip side, professional graphic design can make your company look strong, reliable and expert. Even a small startup can look established and reliable with good graphic design.
2. It gives you a consistent branding: Nothing screams amateur more than inconsistent branding. The logo on your sign looks different from the one on your letterhead. The colors on your business card are not reflected in your website. Your special offer one-sheets are done in an entirely different style from your sales brochures. Consistent branding is the hallmark of a truly professional firm. Just look at any large, successful firm and you’ll see the same logo, colors and typefaces carried throughout their literature and websites. It makes their material instantly recognizable, and that translates into brand recognition and sales.
3. It helps you reach and appeal to your audience: A good graphic designer takes the time and care to understand your audience – the people most likely to buy your products or services. He or she gets a sense of what will appeal to your customers, and designs your material accordingly. If your customers are practical-minded business people, the design might be simple, well-organized and straightforward. If your customers are fashion-conscious young people, the design might be colorful and flamboyant. Promotion for a health spa might be soft and natural, while an engineering website might be hard-edged and bold. A good designer knows how to connect to your audience and appeal to them.
4. It effectively organizes and presents your information: Graphic designers are sometimes called “information designers.” If you think of great infographics or presentations you have seen, you can understand the importance of organizing information and demonstrating it in such a way that it is easily viewed and assimilated. Your business can be complex, with many products, sizes, colors, services and other factors. Clearly communicating what you offer can be a challenge. A good graphic designer takes the time to understand your business in all its complexity and communicate your offerings with effective charts, graphs, website navigation, corporate reports and presentations.
5. It helps you stand out from the competition: In an age of DIY template design and easily available clip art and stock photography, your business can start looking like every other business. Helping you stand out from the clutter and noise is something a good graphic designer is trained to do. Your business is different. You treat your customers differently Your products and services are unique. A good graphic designer will take the time to really understand those differences and find a way to communicate them in your literature and website. A distinctive logo that really captures the spirit of your company is essential.
How has good graphic design helped your business?
