Design Resources and Ramblings

Thoughts on design, marketing and advertising. And, if you're looking for something that's no longer on this page, click here to check the archives.

Use Branding to Differentiate Your Business

When you think of branding – in a marketing sense – you probably think first of products that are household names. These companies have perfected the branding process, but even small companies can use branding effectively to promote themselves.

Why should you spend the time and money to develop a brand identity for your business? To stand out from the crowd.

A brand is a mark used for identification. When a rancher brands his cattle, he does it to differentiate his herd from everyone else’s. The most obvious reason is if a steer is lost – or stolen – it can be identified, returned to the rightful owner, and the thief punished.

But the brand serves another purpose as well. By extension, it represents the rancher, his values, the quality of his stock, his way of doing business, his integrity and honesty. It guarantees a certain level of quality to buyers and other ranchers. Over time the brand becomes a symbol representing everything the rancher stands for.

This is true whether the image is positive or negative. If the rancher is dishonest, has poor quality cattle, or can’t be counted on to deliver as promised, the brand is equally effective in warning potential buyers to avoid him.

What does this have to do with marketing your business? Everything.

A well planned and executed branding program will do for your company exactly what the rancher’s brand does for him: accurately represent your values to customers and prospects and differentiate your business from others in the industry.

One of the best examples of a comprehensive branding program I've ever encountered is Wells Fargo. From logo placement to colors, type fonts, and photography, there are guidelines for everything. And, while it can be limiting creatively, the advertising does exactly what it is supposed to do: promote the product and the brand, not the cleverness and imagination of the creative team.

(back to top)

Generate Better Response with a Copy/Art Team Approach

In an industry that’s motivated by response rates and driven by testing, every avenue for maximizing success should be explored.

Yet since its inception, the direct marketing industry has been driven by copy. While it’s true that “copy sells,” alone it can’t achieve maximum effectiveness. No matter how clever and compelling the words, if no one notices them, you’re sunk.

The designer’s role is to employ all the tools available – type, color, illustration, photography, layout – to catch the prospect’s attention and hold it so the copy can do its job.

An ideal synergy can be achieved when writer and designer work together to develop the creative. Yes, I’ll admit it: copywriters can have great ideas for visuals and – gasp – designers, some of them at least, can write.

Of course, that’s the ideal situation. The reality is that frequently each step in the process is completed without input from all the parties involved. When that’s the case, it’s essential that each person understand, not only their own responsibilities, but the importance of every step in the process. A designer who doesn’t appreciate the value of market research or great copy can’t create work that is compelling for the target audience.

If all your creative is starting to look the same, or results aren’t as good as you’d like, maybe it’s time to do some testing – and test designers.

(back to top)

What is Good Graphic Design?

Defining good graphic design is an ongoing challenge for designers and non-designers alike. One of the reasons for this is that the definition changes for each project.

The designer should take into account many factors in the creation of a successful design: branding, marketing objectives, demographics, creative strategy, and copy platform, to name a few, for each project. At each stage of development, input from the people responsible for these decisions should help to clarify the objectives for the design.

The above ad for ProDoc is a good example. It appears very plain and simple - and in fact, it is. But it's supposed to be.

The ProDoc brand is friendly, straightforward, and trustworthy, which is communicated by the clean, simple layout. The ad clearly states one of the strongest product benefits in the headline. It incorporates the corporate colors and type fonts and shows a happy, satified customer - the average, small law firm attorney who is the target audience. All the text is easy to read and flows smoothly. The contact information is easy to find - it doesn't have to be enormous to be effective- and the call to action is clearly stated in bold.

No matter how beautiful the design is, if it doesn't support and enhance the marketing objectives and creative strategy, it is not good design. On the other hand, a design that - at first glance - appears to be uninspired may, in fact, be exceptionall if it fulfills the project objectives.