The transformation of information

It’s all eyes on you

Graphic design is the art of communication through visual content. The use of typography, photography and illustration can help companies develop strong and memorable brands. Common elements include logos, editorial design, advertising, signage, product packaging and web design.

So, how can graphic design help you achieve your sales objectives?

With a clear understanding of your goals, knowledge of your marketplace and customers, correct configuration and monitoring, Serenity Digital can use creative design to help you see positive returns from your investment.

A visual feast

Any business wishing to compete in their industry will need to keep their brand fresh and engaging. Graphic design is no different from other skill sets because there are plenty of tips to consider, and plenty of mistakes to avoid.

“90 percent of all information that comes to the brain is visual” – EyeQ Insights
Creating the right imagery that reflects your business is essential for boosting customer engagement and driving revenue.

What we’re seeing

One of the biggest problems marketing professionals face is creating visual assets that resonate with their target audience. To get a healthy return on your investment, you must make sure you avoid the common areas of concern.

POOR READABILITY

Don’t include too many words in one line of text. You don’t want to lose your consumer unnecessarily. “50-60 characters per line is the ideal length.” Baynard Institute

TOO WORDY

People become less engaged when material is over-populated with too many words. Although you do need to communicate with your audience effectively, you don’t need to bombard them. Words are hugely powerful. Make sure they earn their place.

MISMATCHING FONTS

Using too many different fonts can make the result look unprofessional and messy. Don’t over-complicate your fonts because you will also confuse your consumer.

THE DEMANDS OF EACH MEDIUM

It’s all too easy to create one advert and expect it to work across a variety of different mediums. Artwork needs to be carefully planned and placed.

LACK OF NEGATIVE SPACE

We’ve all seen examples where there is too much happening on a page. In these cases, the focus of the audience can be lost, and your money has been wasted. Amateur designers don’t allow enough white space.

COPYING OTHERS

We often see the same designs and imagery being used time and time again. Copying another person’s work is normally due to a lack of creativity rather than something malicious, but it can severely damage your credibility and your business.

NOT BEING CONSISTENT

If your visual assets aren’t the same across all the different levels of communication you’re using, your audience will become confused and your business will lack brand strength. A consistent visual identity is key.

“On average, five to seven brand impressions are necessary before someone will remember your brand.”

NOT SEEING THE VALUE OF GOOD DESIGN

Some businesses make the common mistake of thinking that all graphic designers can achieve the same visual results, while others can treat design as an afterthought. This often leads to a damaged brand, no brand at all or wasted investment.

A winning visual strategy

You must consider all your visual elements to bring your brand together and to grow your business. Here are our 10 tips to ensure your campaign is well on its way to success.

1. DO YOUR RESEARCH

It’s important to work with a graphic designer who pushes creative boundaries and understands the objectives you’re trying to achieve. A good designer will listen to you, and always have the end goal in mind. See their portfolio and ask them how they have taken a brief and made it happen!

2. THINK ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE BRIEF

If a designer doesn’t understand what’s required of them, they won’t be able to create fantastic work. You don’t need to have all the ideas in place in the first instance, but it’s important you provide enough detail on each area. This would include who you want to target, your key messages and your existing branding.

A good designer should guide you on what you need but this initial communication is imperative to the smooth running of any project.

3. THINK ABOUT THE MEDIUM

Targeting is important when thinking about bid strategy and how you can find your audience. For example, you may want to target by location, at set times of the day and with rotating content as well as by search terms. Campaign structure is fundamental for attracting the right traffic to the correct ad copy and subsequent pages on your website for optimum conversion.

4. WHAT DO YOUR POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS WANT TO SEE?

Always have your audience in mind. Put yourself in their shoes and consider how they might be interpreting the information you’re presenting. For example, if there is an infographic you don’t understand, or you’ve been turned off by too many words on the page, it’s likely other people will be too.

5. MEASURE RESULTS

You can still track your return on investment with printed material. Marketing professionals do find measuring return on design specialisms difficult to measure, however there are ways to attribute leads from direct marketing using Google Analytics and unique email addresses or website landing pages specific to that channel.

Over time if you wanted to test from a design perspective you may wish to try different design criteria to see how engagement fares.

6. ENSURE BRAND CONSISTENCY

This can be achieved by having a set of brand guidelines. This will ensure your brand isn’t compromised by others who may be working with you and that your brand is consistent across multiple channels of communication.

7. ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Customers engage with visual elements that all work together. They earn their place in your marketing material. Look closely at every detail and decide their impact on the current audience and those you’re trying to reach.

8. THE IMPACT OF COLOUR

The colours you use and how they work together, will determine how your brand works visually. Consumers can misinterpret colours just as much as they can misread the message you’re trying to convey.

9. MAKE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION

Consumers judge brands very quickly. Fantastic visuals, consistent messaging across all the mediums and words that work will give your business credibility. Build a unique visual identity that customers can understand and engage with.

10. CLEAR OUT THE CLUTTER

‘Less is more’ can be central to your marketing strategy. Don’t clutter up your target market with too many words and over-used imagery as this will show a clear disregard for today’s world of instant messages and immediacy. Keep it simple.

Time to invest…

Companies can struggle to find great graphic design and are often not putting enough importance on getting it right. However, we connect with imagery instantly, so businesses need to get it right first time.

To learn more about how graphic design can help towards achieving your sales targets, please get in touch. We’d love to learn more about your challenges and discuss how we will be able to boost your visual presence.

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