In college when rare free time was found during classes, I remember searching the web for horrible looking websites with my classmates. Trust me, during this time we saw everything from hideous repeating backgrounds, plain jane fonts, rainbows, and flashing images that just made you want to leave the site quicker. (I must say that in my early days of web design, I gave into some of these at the time “cool” design trends.) However, eight years later, I continue to see these same trends show up in a variety of web design and graphic design materials that include; print mailings, advertisements, catalogs, signage, and more. Do you really know the impact design has on a business?

An easy way to think about this is through storytelling. If your website or logo were to be a book, would it be a good book? Would the illustrations build the book or would it make it really boring? Would the reader continue to pick up your book or put it down before they reached the end?

Graphic Design and Web Design Set the Tone and Tell the Story

The point is, when design materials or a website is not designed well, it WILL tell prospective clients that your business isn’t interesting, you simply don’t care enough to engage them, horrible design = horrible service, or your business is suffering because your design is. This is especially true when a website is outdated and contains old information… the business appears outdated as well.

Are you starting to see how design plays a huge role in attracting prospective clients or turns them away?

Design is one of the biggest factors that affects a purchase (other than price) and has the ability to play on the emotional aspect of a client. Try imagining a very basic, entry-level 4 door Sedan with Cadillac’s logo on it. If this were true, Cadillac would not be known for the high-end luxury vehicles that they produce. Or try thinking about an iMac (or any Apple product) without the sleek and carefully planned design… these are characteristics for any Apple product. Here is another analogy, at your favorite store is a brand new shirt that you just fell in love with (and in your favorite color), the shirt in the color that you love is $30 more expensive than the same identical shirt in the color that you most hate… which do you buy? This scenario shows just the importance that color has on purchase let alone design!

So, what do you do about this little dilemma?

1. Hire a professional. Some of the best money that a business can spend is on their branding. Not only will it help to improve the look and feel of the company, often times the design materials can be used over and over again. Our suggestion is to hire a designer or design firm that has years of experience and understands what you are wanting to achieve. Nowadays, it’s easy for anyone to call themselves a designer if they have Adobe Illustrator downloaded on their computer, but we highly disagree. Plus, hiring a designer allows you to spend your time elsewhere instead of trying to fumble through the design process.
2. Never create a poster or any other design piece in a word processing application. We’re sorry but the cool rainbow drop shadows are not appropriate for businesses unless you are throwing a 80’s flashback party for clients. Hands down, the Adobe Creative Suite is the software of choice and is also the industry standard.
3. If your website is outdated, get it updated. With today’s technology there are a variety of web applications that can help to keep your website and social media accounts updated very quickly. In fact we implement a variety of solutions into all websites that we develop so that clients can make updates in five minutes or less.

Furthermore, design is the key element that tells the story for a business or brand. Spending extra time and a little money on design is always the better choice and will show the most return on your investment.

R2F Creative LLC provides graphic design + branding and web design solutions for clients nationwide and locally in Ankeny and Des Moines, Iowa.