Have you ever looked at a flyer or a brochure, and thought, wow that looks really nice! You may not know why it looks better, but it has to do with the colours, the contrast, the fonts, the use of white space, and the overall look and feel that in fact aligns with the nature of the business and is consistent with their brand identity. Yeah, that is the talent of a graphic designer at work. You can create your own marketing materials, however, there is a distinct difference between creating your own business cards, your own flyers or brochures and hiring a graphic designer to do it for you.
Consider this for a moment, aside from the design aspects, and the finished project being completely different, how much time and energy do you spend on coming up with the look you want for your brochure? You may be using a template, and the initial concept is fine. However, part way through the design phase, the fonts don’t look right. You try and wedge in an image that is not suitable for the space and you end up chopping the image up, just so it fits the template. In the end, it doesn’t have the look you wanted and because of the spacing, you cannot fit all of the content in and the message you are putting out there is choppy and disconnected. In the long run, for what you save in hiring a graphic designer, you will likely spend double that in time and energy trying to create your own materials.
5 Benefits to Working with a Graphic Designer:
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- They have a keen eye for detail. Has this happened to you? You look over your new brochure, or a flyer or your new business cards and think that it’s good to go. You send it to print and at your first networking event, someone notices a typo or a design flaw. Now this can also happen to a designer, but as a designer, they will make it right –likely get your materials reprinted. Although it’s not up to the graphic designer to pick up spelling errors, they often do notice a typo or that a particular detail is missing, a tagline, or a phone number. It’s also part of the graphic designers practice to encourage you to review it and maybe have others take a look as well, as part of the testing phase.
- Graphic designers follow the principles of design. There are about seven primary principles of design; balance, movement, rhythm, contrast, pattern, emphasis and unity/variety. Remember when we mentioned earlier about how you will know something looks better when created by a graphic designer, but you may not know exactly what it is? These principles are part of that whole overall look and feel. Just like an interior designer, or an architect, they are trained and take years to learn what it means to bring certain elements together to create a feeling, evoke emotion and leave an impression. It’s almost like there is a message in the pattern, the contrast and how the fonts and images are balanced. All of this is very pleasing to the eye. Certain elements are emphasized and there is a flow that is undeniable. That is the true signature of a designer.
- Designers bring vast knowledge and experience. As with any professional, graphic designers go through a great deal of education and continued training to ensure that they deliver not only on creativity, but also on quality. In the beginning of their career, they often job shadow with other more experienced creatives in order to learn some of the tips and tricks of the trade. This is also a career path that has staying power, once a creative, always a creative –although their path may expand into other creative realms, especially in this day and age, with more focus on digital design, websites and electronic marketing trends including social media.
- Your files are set up for print and web. Your logo versions come in multiple formats for several reasons. One version will be great for graphics and printing. Another version will be great for signage or banners. For example, a stand-up banner might be 4ft by 9ft, so you will need a vector version of your logo that allows your logo to be enlarged without losing resolution or quality. Your graphic designer should also provide brand guidelines, so that you will know how to use all of your brand collateral and what files or formats are good for web, print or signage. If the wrong format is used, it can appear blurry or faded.
- Creative minds, breed creative ideas. There is something to be said about having a professional who can customize your needs. Working with a professional graphic designer for your branding can also open up a whole slew of ideas and possibility, because your designer will have a great deal of insight from a marketing and branding perspective on how to attract your best clients by considering the psychology behind colours, symbolism and the overall feeling that is evoked when people see your brand. This is yet another signature of a professional AND experienced graphic designer.
Want to test this out? Next time you’re out and about, look around at the various brands. What attracts you? What colours evoke a feeling, an emotion? Why do you choose one brand over another? Customer service? Convenience? Perhaps, but most likely there’s something else that draws you in –something more subconscious that strikes a chord for you. That is the true essence of branding –it is not just a logo. Branding is a business’s identity that encompasses a company’s values, their mission and vision, and how they contribute to the world! A brand is developed an initial discovery session, lots of dialogue with a graphic designer and likely, as with our agency, a marketing or business strategist are part of this conversation as well. This team approach can be so powerful, as each expert asks questions, shares insights all with the intention of bringing your business to life and creating a look and feel that allows a business owner to honour their values, their truth, tell their story and truly stand out!
We hope this is helpful, especially if you are on a quest for quality brand development.
Call us if you have questions, we’re here to help!