All you need to know to approach the world of graphics and grow your business online and offline
Communication is made up of words and images.
Suppose you are thinking of developing your company’s identity, creating a new logo or designing a site with a functional user experience. In that case, you cannot neglect the visible part of your brand.
To achieve your goals, you need to give as much space to words as images. And you need to develop a graphic design. Find how.
Table of Contents
What Are The Main Guidelines For Graphic Design?
Do you know what one of the most common mistakes for a business is? A wrong picture.
An incorrect graphic choice can do a lot more damage than you think.
You don’t have to go overboard to catch your audience’s attention; instead, start with the questions: who am I? What do I mean? Who do I contact?
To avoid stumbling blocks and negative repercussions on your business, some rules allow you to create an excellent graphic project starting from essential elements such as:
- Colour
- Alignment
- Text
- Font
- Images
- Spaces
To start, you can peek at the graphic trends of the moment, but remember to choose fonts and palettes based on your identity; they will make you unique and recognizable.
Remember that an excellent graphic design is obtained from the right balance of technique, imagination and study combined with coherence, simplicity, originality and modernity.
How To Use Graphics To Do Business?
If you are clear about your communication goals, you are already halfway there and can start shaping your ideas.
When you move on to the practical side, your graphic design needs to be consistent with everything you are and do, from the brand identity to the website to the way you use to communicate with your audience.
Do they look like planets far from each other? Yet the graphics express and reinforce that fil rouge between brand, logo, website and communication, which makes the image of each company genuinely effective.
Let’s see in detail what happens.
Graphics And Brand Identity: All The Elements To Consider
Graphic design starts from the definition of the brand identity.
Transforming the starting idea into a unique, stimulating and clear project requires experience and technique. This is usually the reason that pushes many entrepreneurs to rely on professionals.
If you wonder how much it can cost to define brand identity, we are sorry that we cannot give you a specific answer. There are many factors involved, and for this reason, the costs are continuously variable.
What we can tell you, however, is that in your quote, you will find items such as:
- Preliminary study
- Development of visual identity
- Content creation
It is still unclear how and why it is so essential to work on graphics, even when it comes to brand development? And even less, why should you rely on a graphic designer or an agency?
Let’s take a closer look at two of the elements that tell your brand and that you cannot leave to chance.
How To Create A Professional Logo?
The logo is not just a beautiful image. The logo talks about you and tells who you are.
In designing your corporate identity, it is essential for several reasons:
- Differentiates you on the market
- Visually defines who you are
- Create a direct relationship with your audience.
If your goal is to create a professional logo without the help of a graphic designer but only with your strength, we give you some advice:
- Take a pen and paper
- Be inspired by the name of the company
- Do some sketches
- Try different colour and font combinations.
Remember that your logo needs to be memorable to the audience. So opt for original graphics, a clear message and simple shapes.
What Is The Corporate Graphic Coordinator, And How Is It Made?
Business cards, letterheads, commercial envelopes, document folders and other offline material make up your corporate identity.
They are all supporters that help you present your company. A sort of toolbox composed not only of institutional material but also of promotional items such as company gadgets.
Have you ever thought about how vital these elements are for your company’s communication?
You can use your graphic coordinator to convey your company’s values, create contact with customers and suppliers, and strengthen the brand.
To do this, all the tools that make it up must be consistent with the brand identity and, consequently, with your company’s graphic identity.
Being able to develop a coordinated corporate image is not an easy process; there are many elements and many variable costs that depend on four main factors:
- Communication choices
- Marketing goals
- Technical choices
- Materials
To create a coherent and effective graphic coordinate, here are some essential points to consider:
- Market research
- Positioning study
- Development of the brand identity
- Customization of the visual layout
- Selection of tools
- Choice of paper
- Specification of the number of pieces to be requested
- Definition of delivery times.
After all these work phases, you will get a coordinated image similar to your brand and, therefore, applicable to increase the awareness and strength of your brand, even abroad.
The Online Presence: How To Build It?
Whether you’ve been a young freelancer or an entrepreneur for several years, you can’t help but build your online presence to expand your business.
To do this, ask yourself what the nature of your company is. For example, is your business about selling products or providing services? Do you want to create valuable content? Or do you want to present your company?
There is no one-size-fits-all solution, but you have several alternatives. Based on your answers, you can understand which web page is most suitable for you between:
- E-commerce
- Company website
- Corporate blog
Once you have chosen the most suitable tool, you can move on to the actual design.
But remember, just being online isn’t enough for you to have good results. To work well, your e-commerce, your website or your corporate blog must be in line with your brand identity.
As an example, let’s consider your website (in the case of e-commerce or blog, the speech is entirely similar). In the initial design phase, in addition to hosting and domain, you also need to think about:
- Graphics
- User experience
- Content in line with the company’s tone of voice
These elements affect the time of realization and the cost of the site, and you must consider them as an investment for your business. A well built online presence is a great business card for acquiring new customers.
GDD – A Site Design Template
If you consider developing your website, you must also know the GDD.
What is the GDD? Growth driven design. A web design technique that helps you develop and optimize a website constantly through action in small steps.
This approach is beneficial because, through a series of tests based on user responses, it makes you understand which elements of a site are not functional and allows you to change them immediately.
The procedure involves four fundamental steps:
- Build the provisional site
- Test the audience
- Correct critical issues
- Continue testing
Since this technique is based on the analysis of user responses, it takes care of the graphics; it will be you who will influence the site’s usability.
During your tests, try to improve the site’s appearance to make it more pleasant and functional for users, thus improving their browsing experience and prolonging the time spent on your pages.
How To Create The Graphic Part Of A Website?
Graphics are fundamental to the user experience; we just said that. You may be wondering what the factors to consider, the techniques to use and how to develop the graphics of your website in practice are.
Well, that’s what we’re here for. As you have already done several times on this path, you have to ask yourself a few things: what is the company’s actual image? What do you want to convey to the user who browses the site? How do you want to involve him?
Now take a pen and paper and proceed with the graphic design of the layout that you think is suitable to tell your brand.
While mixing creativity and marketing ideas, don’t forget the technical part. A website has its structure to respect, in which there is never a shortage: header, footer and contact form.
Once the structure is organized, you can focus on content. Organize your web pages by entering:
- Logo
- Colours in line with your brand identity
- Images that attract attention
- Rexts with a clear font that facilitates readability
Do you need some extra advice to improve the look and feel of your website?
In the conception phase, let the imagination ride, but when you go to practice, remember that a web page is built to communicate with end-users.
Thinking about the needs of your audience will allow you to:
- Get good positioning on the SERP
- Attract new visitors and repeat customers
- Strengthen the impact of your concept or brand
- Gain credibility
User Experience: What Is It, And How To Improve It?
People’s interaction with the site deserves a lot of attention. The user experience and the visual aspect of a website influence each other: an effective graphic interface helps the user in navigation, improving his experience of hers.
Those involved in digital graphic design study and continually update themselves on new methods for defining lines, shapes and spaces within the site.
To build a helpful web page, both the graphic designer and the user experience designer take into account various technical factors such as:
- User learning
- The visibility of objects
- The intuitiveness of the system
- User responses
All elements determine the speed, intuitiveness and interactivity of a site. All features that make up the user experience of the site. All aspects that determine the success of your site.
How long are you willing to wait for a web page to load before leaving it? Certainly not more than a few seconds.
Short response times and an orderly and straightforward navigation path ensure that the browsing experience is pleasant, with positive repercussions on online sales growth.
If your website does not respond to these characteristics, the abandonment rate could increase. We advise you to run for cover and improve the user experience immediately.
Start here:
- Simplifies the navigation menu
- Enter a search bar
- Take care of the layout
- Use a language accessible to all
- Add a call to action.
So remember to focus on simplicity, order and a well-organized site. For your customers, the browsing experience on your web page is like a journey, guiding them on an easy and exciting path.
How To Use Graphics For Effective Communication?
Man has always used graphic signs to communicate since prehistoric times. Images have tremendous power:
- Break down language barriers
- They are practical and immediate
- Reach a large audience
- They grab attention.
For these reasons, when coupled with images, words become even more powerful.
Not sure how to make the most of these benefits? Do you want to improve the use of graphics for your communication? We have some ideas that can help you:
- Use slides to accompany your speeches
- Match keywords with graphic details
- Pay attention to the layout of your brochures
- Use colors suitable to convey your identity and your message.
Graphics are an indispensable part of your communication, so we want to give you another fundamental piece of advice: after developing it, don’t be afraid to modify it.
The aesthetics and, above all, the tastes of your audience change according to the historical period. Knowing how to adapt to the evolution of graphics means keeping up and thinking big.
What Tools To Use For Graphics?
Do you already want to go to the practical side of graphic design? You need some essential – and free – resources for making graphics.
What are we talking about? Some online tools help you find the right inspiration and develop your ideas.
- Canva: the website to create your graphics quickly and easily.
- Unsplash: a digital catalog of downloadable photos.
- Grafigata!: the Italian blog on pictures to learn the technique.
- Behance: a community of graphic designers to inspire you.
Technical basics and valuable resources for graphics: your survival kit in graphic design is complete. Start experimenting!
