A Note From Our Graphic  Design Lead: Consistent  Design Always Wins

There’s an old saying “good design is obvious”. Referring to anything with a design element, such as cuisine, painting, architecture, music, Feng shui, graphic design and everything in between. However, one of the biggest factors in design today is awareness and consistency because at the end of the day consistent design always wins.

Particularly for brands, often awareness comes from overall consistency and a defined brand style; which ideally spans everything to do with the business, everything the brand touches and everything it designs.

So ultimately, one of the most important goals of any visual or graphic design project is creating that all-important brand awareness. And once again, this comes from consistency across all channels of the business. From whatever product that’s created, to the brand website, to the brand’s social media presence, to the letterheads on your invoices. Consistency is one of the key building blocks of generating excellent brand awareness.

Example of excellent graphic design
When looking into consistency across channels, there’s no better example than Apple.

Regardless of what Apple put out, whether it be one (or all) of their products, advertisements, branding, general graphic design, typography, UX design, website design, in-store identity, letterheads, signup forms and the rest, they’re consistently consistent. I’m sure that already, you’ve got an idea of Apple branding or products in your head.

Already, you can see the crisp, minimal text interfaces, simple and sleek design, and clear and concise messaging.

On Apple’s part, this was no mistake. Their design was and still is a conscious choice. Made by Apple’s design team, they have aimed to (and succeeded to) use their brand to enhance their user experience with the product, user experience with the brand, and effectively enhancing brand awareness. Translating their core values and messages not only to their products, but applying this idea to anything that is associated with their brand.

Pro tip: Create a graphic design and visual style guide that you’ll use as a bible. With every project that you undertake for your brand, constantly refer to back to this bible to ensure consistency across channels.

How your can optimise your graphic design

Now consider this.

You’re a small business owner, a franchise owner or maybe a managing director for a company. You have media associated with your business and brand out in the field. But do you know how is it handled? How it came to be and how it was curated and executed across channels?

Does Bob in accounting send out your letterheads whipped up in Word? Are they different to the letterheads that Janette in HR would send? Was your signage and graphic design collateral created on the fly by the guys at the workshop? Are your social media pages managed and run by your son or daughter, cranking out some cool filters and images they sussed out for you (Bless ’em)?

(READ: The 4 Social Media Strategy Tips to Improve Your Channels Presence)

If this is the case, despite the best of intentions, this visual inconsistency of your graphic design output can be damaging. And at worst case, fatal. Fatal for your potential business, your brand and eventually, your pockets.

If you offer a killer product or service and look bad through your branding and design, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. This can be extra bad because your consumers associate strong and consistent branding and design with trust and professionalism.

So although you’re in control of your business and professionalism from a functional standpoint. Are you in control of how you’re coming across visually through your branding and design? Because every bit of your graphic design output matters.

Often, people say that they aren’t. And that’s totally fine. Because not everyone knows the ins-and-outs of graphic design. And not everybody knows their way around the Adobe Suite.

But again, that’s totally fine. Yet to ensure that you’re not only coming across professionally, but are beating your competitors from a branding and design standpoint, you need to raise your game and get all your design needs met.

The good news is that this can be as simple as you want it to be.

Hiring a freelancer, getting a graphic design intern in, or hiring an agency are just a few ways you can get the help you need. The bottom line is, there’s a reason why designers are around. That reason is to make you look as great as you are to your customers and potential customers.

In Summary

Consistent design always wins, no matter what. Give yourself the best chance of success. Despite what you might think, upping your graphic design game can actually be very simple. The bottom line being,  looking good can get you where you need to go; bridging the gap between what you know you can do and what customers think you can do through visual cues.

If you would like to find out a bit more about our graphic design and branding services and especially how they interact with your business, contact us today!

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