All design has an inherent power. Using a loose definition of the term design, we can say that everything that has been created with intent has power. It may be subtle—a crayon-drawn Christmas scene from the mind and hands of a first grader has the power to remind us of innocence and dreams. Or it may be more affecting—the captured image of a hungry, third-world child stirs our sense of compassion.
When applied to business graphics, the effects of the power of design are more far-reaching. Good design can (and should) be part of a business-building strategy. Bad design can prevent a business from growing simply because of the impression it gives to potential customers. Think of any large corporation. Now picture the way they present their business graphically through any medium. While we can be critical (and as designers, we will be!), any successful corporation is presented to their audience with some degree of professional design. Do you think that a company gets successful first and then says “hey, now that we’re successful, lets start spending some of our profits on professional design!”? No, the professional design was an early and critical part of the success story.
Why Do I Need You?
About five years ago I made a cold call to a very small engineering company. After hearing my brief introduction and explanation of services, the lone man in the office reached across his desk a picked up a tri-fold brochure to hold it up for me. He proudly said “I made this myself and printed it on my inkjet printer, why do I need you?” His masterpiece was on plain white paper with bright, multi-colored type—shaped, shadowed, styled and positioned boldly across the center. A clip-art, cartoon illustration in a square box placed near the top and left of center. And some smaller, yet still too large and bold, text near the bottom. After a quick and deliberate shut-down of my defense mechanisms, I smiled and simply said, “I guess your all set, have a nice day.”
Just last week I was in that area again. I went in and introduced myself to the same man. It could have been five years ago. Everything looked the same and there was no obvious sign of any business success of growth. One man, one cluttered desk. I suppose its possible that this man is a millionaire because of his business savvy and just wants to downplay his success, but my guess is…no.
Would my help have changed his success? I’d like to think so, but there are too many other variables. What I do believe is that, based on what I saw of that brochure, he was hurting his own business.
A Better Example
Here’s a better example which includes you, the reader. We depend on the internet for so many things now. How many times have we searched for a product that we wanted to buy and found multiple online stores selling the same product? How do we then narrow down our choice? Price? Yes, of course. Then what? When there are multiple e-stores listing our product for the same price, including shipping, what drives our decision? Easy. The one that appears to be the most reliable, reputable, and professional. That is a perception which comes from the look and feel of the business’ site—the design! The e-commerce site which has made an investment in professional design for their site gets a return on that investment with our purchase of a product.
So design has power. Power to persuade or power to dissuade. Power to compel or power to repel. Power to make a sale or power to convince a potential customer to buy from a competitor.
There are some who don’t understand the power of design. There are those who don’t recognize that some people have made a life’s work of understanding and applying good design, not for the sake of visual appeal, but to achieve a specified objective on behalf of a client.
As one of those designers, I would welcome an opportunity to meet with you for a no-cost evaluation of your business identity. Contact me anytime.