Why Graphic Design is Important for Your Brand

Graphic design not only makes something look good, it organizes information to help deliver a message in the most impactful way possible. When you combine the right image, a well-written headline, professionally executed in a well-established package, then BOOM! The message hits its target.

However, if any one of those parts is missed, the message will likely miss its target too. There’s a misconception that graphic design is just “pretty pictures,” but it’s actually presentation, organization and well-thought-out market concepts that deliver everything in one good-looking package.

Creating a Consistent Brand

In my career, I have had the opportunity to design for all business types and sizes, from big corporations down to small “mom & pop” shops. The one thing they all have in common is that they hired us to give them a consistent brand; a face that their audience would recognize every time they received or saw anything from them. So why is it that businesses are always wanting that solid brand foundation, but trying to find short cuts/low-cost measures to execute it the right way?

Not Just a Logo

Branding isn’t limited to just a company logo. It means putting that logo design on everything your company presents as theirs. And not just adding the logo to any old layout/design, but having that ad/email/brochure tie into the brand using the brand’s fonts, colors and remaining consistent with the graphic standards that your audience has been used to seeing. Consistency is the key to good branding, and graphic design is the key to consistency.

Graphic design creates the structure for delivering your message, so that over time, your audience recognizes YOU in every message you deliver. Consistency creates confidence, assurance that you know the brand…predictability. If the client decides to execute their own thing, be it by another designer, an in-house creative or on their own without following the design previously established, their audience may lose trust in that brand.

Without this brand consistency, your audience won’t necessarily recognize you. In layman’s terms, it’s as if a friend gets their hair chopped off and colored, then dresses up in drag and shows up at your door expecting you to recognize them. You’ll certainly figure it out because it’s still them, but they look so different, you’re not sure who they are anymore!

How Graphics Attract Prospects

Beauty is attractive, we all know that, and graphic design delivers beauty in order to attract the target audience. But in advertising, it’s not just about beauty; there is a very small window of time for an ad, email or website to grab the audience’s attention before they move onto the next thing. If they find something in that window of time that makes them look twice (a graphic, a headline), then they’ll stop to take in the message. A well-designed marketing piece helps the audience see past the graphics to the message, but it’s the appealing graphics that reel them in.

For more information on how graphic design can help you attract new prospective clients, please contact The Marketing Machine.