Discover the Power of Creative Graphic Design Services
The digital world is never switched off. Customers can browse and buy 24/7 from anywhere in the world. There are more business opportunities than ever before. But in a crowded, noisy marketplace of short attention spans your brand visuals need to work harder than ever.
How Creative Graphic Design Transcends Boundaries
Brand design covers a multitude of visuals, from logos to font styles to colours. Getting every element balanced is the key to successful branding.
An experienced creative designer will know how to use colour and graphic elements effectively to make your brand look good. Understanding which colours complement or contrast, how much white space is needed to let your visuals “breathe” and even ensuring the typography fits your brand will help ensure your creative identity works.
People know what looks “right” or “wrong” but they won’t know why. A bit like we can all hear when a singer’s hitting the wrong note, even if we’re not virtuoso pianists. People will notice when visuals are “a bit off”.
For a design to resonate with your audience the “look” needs to match the message, a skilled designer will know how to achieve this to make maximum impact.
“Choosing bright colours that worked well together was key. ”
Elevating Brand Identity: Enhancing Recognition through Design
It was no accident that the Summer of 2023 was awash with Barbie Pink. The film production company spent more on advertising than it cost to make the film ($150million on marketing vs $145million to make).
The power of the Barbie brand was used to full effect for the film’s billboard campaign. The adverts simply included the release date and a pink background. It worked because the colour was Barbie’s own Pantone 219C and the date was written in Barbie Font. The adverts were eye-catching and really capitalised on the universal brand recognition of the iconic 11.5 inch model!
Sometimes a colour and a font is enough – like this advert for the Barbie film
The success of Barbie shows how consistent branding elements can reinforce brand recognition and customer loyalty. A graphic designer will use colours and graphics that complement your brand, helping to develop your unique business identity.
Designing for the Digital Age: Crafting Engaging Online Experiences
Most companies today are aware of the importance of graphic design in digital marketing, particularly since the growth of social media and online shopping.
“Mobile First” has been the mantra for web designers for a while. Google first mentioned it in 2010, in response to the increased dominance of mobile phones. It meant that instead of just adapting a website to fit mobile, it should be designed from the ground up with mobile use in mind.
Swiping, scrolling, responsive touch-screens… the way people interact with their phones is very different from a static keyboard. It’s no wonder that user experience (UX) suddenly became so vital for everything digital. Good creative design is at the forefront of delivering a great user experience for all your customers, whichever digital platform they’re using.
Print Design: Infusing Creativity into Tangible Marketing Materials
For a while, people assumed that the rise of online marketing would be the death of print, and it’s true that it’s had an impact. But what’s actually happened is that there’s been a rise in the value and trust people place in print. The sheer quantity and often low quality of digital content means that print can be a great way to “cut through the noise” and reach your customers. Ironically a great print or billboard campaign can go viral online anyway, so you can get two for the price of one!
The tactile qualities of holding a leaflet, business card or brochure can also be powerful. A foil-printed premium business card presents a tangible feel of quality and many people still prefer browsing printed marketing materials. It’s quicker to flick through a brochure, and the higher resolution of print means that images are crisper and clearer than on a screen. For premium products such as cars and jewellery, a brochure is still a useful piece of the marketing jigsaw.
Logo Designs: Creating Memorable Brand Symbols
A memorable logo is the best shorthand for your brand, and it’s just one of the reasons why graphic design is important. In today’s phone-shaped advertising landscape, they are more visible than ever. Our brains are wired to recognise pictures first, which means that in the fast-paced world of social media, they can help speed up the communication lines between businesses and their customers.
The first logo was trademarked by Bass Brewery in 1876, it combines a red triangle with Bass written underneath. It’s still used by the company today. So what’s the secret of a successful design? The Bass logo has stood the test of time because it got a lot of things right;
- Colour – The red stands out and suggests power and strength, perfect for a beer brand.
- Simplicity – It’s an uncluttered design, using shape and script for maximum impact.
- Distinctive – It’s easy to recognise at a glance whether it’s in a crowded pub or an online marketplace.
- The Look – It’s balanced and visually appealing.
- Fits the Brand – It has a traditional feel, but the equilateral triangle brings it bang-up-to-date, with the added bonus of suggesting the beer is balanced too.
The first trademarked logo was for the Bass Brewery in 1876, and it’s still in use today
Good logos can be elusive, which is why it’s worth working with a designer. They can suggest a whole range of ideas that can then be hones and finalised to suit. There are two key rules for effective logo-ing;
- Be Distinctive
- Fit the Brand
The rest is up to your creative team!
Web Design & User Experience: Blending Aesthetics with Functionality
It’s functionality first when it comes to web design. A page containing large image files and videos might look great, but if it takes too long to load, your viewers will click off before they’ve even seen it! This is just one of the reasons why web design and user experience go hand-in-hand.
So how can a creative designer improve the user experience of your website?
- Help people find what they’re looking for – A designer will know how to layout a page for maximum visual impact, including white space, images and a choice of font that helps make your site as user-friendly as possible.
- Make people act – Whether it’s designing eye-catching buttons, logos or banners a designer can help make people much more likely to respond to your calls to action.
- Make your brand look good – Whatever “good” looks like for your business, whether that’s fun, traditional or edgy a designer can make the visuals of your website match your message.
- Responsive designs – Responsive web design means that your site will look good whether it’s viewed on a laptop, tablet or mobile. A designer can create assets in a range of styles and sizes that are tailored for each platform so that there’s a great user experience on every screen.
Responsive website design makes your site easy to use on tablet, phone and laptop
Creating a website that’s functional and visually appealing involves all sorts of technical and creative elements. However, following some universal good practices will help;
- Fast Load Speed – Check your site load speed and check the file size of images and videos to make sure there’s no time lag between click and load.
- Easy to Navigate – Clear menu tabs and a site layout that makes sense, means that people can find the information or product they’re looking for.
- White Space and Balance of Colour – Make sure there are margins and borders around your content so that it is easy to read. Colours should work together and fit with the rest of the branding.
- Consistency – Everything from menus to logos to buttons should have a consistent feel across your web pages to build familiarity and confidence in your brand.
Illustration & Artwork: Tapping into Creativity for Visual Narratives
Where graphic design focuses on typography, shape and colour, illustration is more like fine art, and the creation of beautiful images can be a great way to capture attention and engage an audience.
Beavertown beers are instantly recognisable on supermarket shelves thanks to their bold and distinctive illustrations. The bright colour palette and cartoon-style graphics also stand in stark contrast to traditional beer brands, helping them appear fresh, modern and “alternative”.
Illustration is central to Beavertown’s branding
Even if your brand isn’t defined by illustrations like Beavertown, they can still help your brand stand out:
- Editorial illustrations – These are illustrations used for newspapers, magazines and websites, they visualise ideas expressed in the text.
- Spot illustrations – These are small illustrations that stand on their own without a background. They can add personality to your site and help to highlight key features of your brand or product too.
- Scene illustrations – These types of illustrations set the scene and help readers connect with the story or the world in which your brand sits.
- Hero illustration – The most striking visuals are hero illustrations. They are typically full-width, and full-colour and are the first visuals your users will see. They are often used as a homepage banner to impress and reinforce the brand message.
Packaging Design: Transforming Products into Irresistible Delights
Before your customer judges the product they judge the packaging. It sets their expectations. Does the packaging feel expensive? Is it purely practical? Does it make them feel special? The psychological power of packaging to increase the perceived value of a product is well understood by high-end brands.
For one particularly fragrant industry the packaging is as essential as the product. Perfume is all about the packaging. Yes, the liquid within may contain extracts of Ylang Ylang harvested from the Himalayas, but much of the feeling of luxury will come from the box, bottle and brand name.
Product packaging has the potential to trigger an impulse buy, even when the customer wasn’t in the market for that product. Packaging has the power to make people, “ see it, want it, buy it.” For luxury products, packaging that “reassuringly expensive” vibe is essential. Pouches, bags, bows and boxes, can all contribute to a customer’s perception of quality.
Apple are masters at aligning their packaging with their product. Their boxes are made from high-end materials and have a minimalist aesthetic that reflect their brand values of quality and design.
Apple’s packaging perfectly reflects the high-quality minimalist feel of the brand
This also works at the opposite end of the price spectrum. Supermarket own-brand value products proudly display an anti-design Tesco launched its value brand in 1993, titled, imaginatively enough, “Tesco Value”. It featured distinctive blue-and-white striped packaging, making it easy for customers to spot on the shelves. It was a strong statement by Tesco, in response to the rise of discount supermarkets, a loud warning shot to those upstart discount supermarkets like Lidl and Aldi that had begun to muscle in on Tesco’s dominance.
The concept ran until 2012, when it morphed into the Everyday Value Also attached some key values – no MSG, hydrogenated fats, artificial flavours or genetically modified ingredients, more in tune with consumer preferences.
Simple packaging design fitted the concept of Tesco’s value brand
Social Media: Captivating Audiences through Visual Storytelling
Social media is strongly image-based, so it’s no surprise that visual content dominates online. So what’s the best way to make sure your content cuts through screens filled with pictures of Instagram-worthy travel destinations and mouthwatering plates of food?
Illustrations, eye-catching thumbnails and a strong colour palette can help your brand message stand out on social media. A good example of how graphic design can be used in this way is Spotify’s “wrapped” campaign.
Every December the music streaming service Spotify sends users their personalised statistics based on the music they’ve listened to over the past 12 months. The information is presented using eye-catching graphics that look good and are fun and easy for users to share.
Spotify’s personalised statistics look good and are designed for easy sharing – perfect for social media
Instagram stories were launched in 2016 and included the use of stickers as one of the features. Users are now used to a mix of photo and graphics when they scroll social media. Creating a suite of icons that are tailored to your business can be an engaging way to enhance your social media branding.
A strong idea partnered with compelling social media graphics can help your message get heard in the overcrowded, fast-moving world of social media. Having a suite of graphics, icons and logos can also save time for your social media marketing team so they can produce more content quicker.
Here are a few design tips, for your next social media campaign;
- Bold – People scroll fast, so your design needs to be clear, noticeable and readable.
- Fit the campaign – It should be “on message” and fit your brand marketing.
- Fun and engaging – Entertainment is hugely important when it comes to social media content, it’s why cat videos and filters are so popular! So have fun with your visuals for better engagement.
- Provoke curiosity – Images and ideas that are interesting or thought-provoking will keep people engaged for longer, and make them more likely to share or act on your post.
- Encourage action and engagement – It should promote action, whether that’s inspiring a viral share or a purchase.
Conclusion: The Power of Creative Graphic Design for Unparalleled Impact
Brands can’t afford to underestimate the importance of graphic design in today’s digital world. Investing in professional graphic design services can help your business grow, from making your website shine online to improving the reach of your social media.
InvoDesign are specialists in creative branding. We take the time to understand your business to deliver unique designs that can help you maximise your brand.
We welcome any creative challenge, so whether you need a new brochure, a packaging refresh or a complete brand overhaul we can help. So why not get in touch with us today?
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