Why Understanding Graphic Design is Important for Your Business
When you’re running a company, you’ve got a lot to worry about without thinking about other disciplines or facets of a business that are better relegated to other people. Something like graphic design can easily fall to the wayside when you’re more worried about important things like your product, your customers, and your bottom line. And while those are definitely important things to worry about, graphic design is something that affects all of those other elements. If you’re not being careful to consider how your product appears to your customers, it can negatively affect the perception of your business.
So, it should be simple, right? Make sure everything looks nice and people will like your product? Not necessarily. While making things look nice is definitely an important part of graphic design, there are other elements that also make up graphic design, and affect your business. Here, we’ll go over a few things you should keep in mind when thinking about the graphic design elements of your brand.
Personality
One of the things that the design of your brand affects most is its personality. The emotions that your audience thinks reflect your company is a powerful way to affect consumers. One of the most common things your audience will (hopefully) see in relation to your brand is your company’s logo— something we’ve already talked about this month. When making purchasing decisions, customers will often go with something that they feel reflects them.
For example, think of clothing. The brands of companies like Forever 21 and Aeropostale appeal to totally different demographics than Talbots and Anne Taylor. While all of these brands are massively successful, they wouldn’t have nearly the amount of success that they have if their branding was somehow reversed. That would be confusing for any customer that walked into their stores! Even if the businesses were still successful, as Masterful Marketing points out, they would be far more successful with accurate branding.
When considering designs for your company, you should make sure you’re considering things like personality. Do you want your company to appear calm and respectable? Zany and fun? Cheeky and flirtatious? Graphic design will help you achieve those goals.
Consistency
Consistency is another incredibly important element of graphic design, and it ties directly to personality. If you want your brand to come off a certain way, all the elements of graphic design have to support that personality, and consistency is a huge step to make sure your company’s personality is presented the same way to everyone who interacts with your company.
However, it’s more important than just supporting the personality of your company. Think about companies whose logos who have changed over the years. Was there a positive response? Generally speaking, the answer is almost certainly no. While people usually get used to the new way a company wants to present themselves, a redesign will almost certainly spark controversy. Humans are creatures of habit. Just think of the backlash that occurred when Twitter made the simply change to change their like icon from a star to a heart. While some people brought up reasons for the change, and others presented reasons to dislike it, the simplest reason people were frustrated is just that it was different.
While people generally eventually accept change and grow used to it, even small differences can be met with huge pushback. So, what does that mean for your brand? Well, what it means is that you have to think carefully about whether redesigning something is really necessary. Is there a major problem that needs to be fixed, like outdated information, or is it just going to frustrate your customers? If it frustrates your customers, are you willing to deal with that for the sake of a redesign?
One reason you might want to redesign is for consistency, though. If you haven’t been considering it in the past, then your company might be confusing and frustrating your customers by changing so much. Remember to keep your brand and identity’s graphic design consistent, and your company will fare much better overall.
Simplicity
When looking at designs, sometimes we have an impulse to think that the more complicated, intricate thing is the better option. If it’s got more going on, that makes it more interesting, and that means it has to be better, right?
Not necessarily. While complicated designs can certainly be interesting, if it makes your company harder to understand to your customer, it can become a detriment. Statistics show that people usually spend an average of around 15 seconds on a website. Imagine only having 15 seconds to make a customer understand your brand. And actually, you’ll probably have less than that because your customer will be focused on other things besides just the graphics on the page. Now it probably makes more sense why simple can often be better.
People are definitely catching on to this phenomenon. Minimalist design is becoming more and more popular in graphic design and other disciplines, such as interior design. While complexity isn’t always bad, it’s important to consider its place. Ask yourself what information is absolutely essential when considering a design. Is there something that can be stripped away? Even if you’re fond of an element, make sure it’s absolutely necessary, or you’ll risk losing your customer’s precious attention.
People are definitely catching on to this phenomenon. Minimalist design is becoming more and more popular in graphic design and other disciplines, such as interior design. While complexity isn’t always bad, it’s important to consider its place. Ask yourself what information is absolutely essential when considering a design. Is there something that can be stripped away? Even if you’re fond of an element, make sure it’s absolutely necessary, or you’ll risk losing your customer’s precious attention.
Uniqueness
Of course, a design can meet all of the previous requirements, and still fall short. Why? Because it blends in too easily with other brands doing the same thing. Making sure your product stands out is extremely important to success. That’s why graphic design is more than just an interesting logo design. Making each element of your brand stand out from your competitors will help you make sure that your customers remember your company, not the competition.
However, it’s important not to go too crazy. While you try to make your designs interesting and unique, make sure they don’t compromise other important elements of your brand, like the personality of your brand. And, of course, making sure your designs are consistent and not overcomplicated means that you have to careful about what you do to stand out.
We hope that this article helped you understand the importance of graphic design when it comes to your business. It may seem like too much to deal with, especially with many conflicting needs. However, remembering at least the basics of good graphic design when it comes to marketing will help guide you moving forward. If it seems like too much to mess with, hiring a good graphic designer to handle for you can be a great step. If you have concerns about your brand, Seehawk Design can help you get on track.
