Ever hear these phrases?
“Slap together a logo.”
“Whip up a brochure.”
“Throw together a banner.”
These are things I hear sometimes as a graphic designer.
The overarching theme: Design is a superfluous layer of eye candy necessary to get a product or service to market.
A hassle, really. A last ditch attempt to pretty-up. Kind of like that quick hit of lipstick I throw on if I’m in a hurry and I believe it makes me look put together. (Maybe it does, from a distance.)
But here’s the thing:
Your customers, whether you call them clients, consumers, end users, target audience; they are all… drumroll, please…
People!
And people are savvy consumers. Discerning. Ruthless. Quick to judge, because we’re all in a hurry. People are out there spending a premium on Apple products, for example, because they are well-designed.
People may not think they care about brands. But those same people are standing at a store shelf examining two products, choosing the one that appears to be higher quality, more legit. Or the cheaper one. (Did you know generic brands are intentionally designed to look cheap?)
I’d go so far as to say a lot of people are annoyed by unprofessional design because it’s doesn’t communicate well. (Ever come across a form you couldn’t figure out, or instructions that didn’t make sense? Poor design.)
My point is this:
Your potential customers aren’t going to give your product or company “a break” because you had a small budget for design. They will simply react, mostly subconsciously, to the best product that seems the most able to meet their needs.
And the thing with branding is, it’s more than that logo or brochure or banner. Branding is the sum of all the parts that comprise any of these items: for example a brochure has a logo, color, typography, graphics and photography style, and so on.
I want people to drool over your brand.
I want your brand to align visually with how great it is in your head. That’s not going to happen on accident. If you have a new company or product and you want to talk about how to get off on the right branding foot, reach out anytime. I’m happy to get you started on the right path.
