Graphic design is often misunderstood and seen as an unnecessary cost. Many businesses severely underutilise the power of visual design. But one thing is for sure, design led businesses stand out from the crowd. Successful businesses of any size are embracing design, using it as a strategic resource to strengthen their products and services in order to achieve profitable growth.

Visual design should not be seen as a cost. If a company is achieving a successful visual market presence, design is not money down the drain. Rather, a strong visual presence gives your customers a compelling reason to buy from you and not your competitors.

Before any potential client walks through your door, your visual identity is a representation of your company. It can make you look fun or serious, large or small, traditional or forward thinking, professional or unprofessional. You need to strike a chord with your target audience. Customers know what they want. The question is, can you successfully communicate to them that you know what they want and that you have it?

Here are a few things to think about:
What does your logo say about your company?
What impression does your company literature give your potential customer?
You target audience is on the web, are you?
If you are on the web, is your website pulling customers in or turning them away? Why?
Can your customers find you and can they understand what you offer?

1. Find a good designer and stick with them. If you flit from one service provider to the next, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to achieve a consistent message or strong brand. If you work with the right person though, the partnership approach, which should include strategy planning, will quickly get you moving in the right direction.

2. Be open with your designer. Share information about where your business is right now, where you’d like it to be and why. Be honest. A good designer won’t judge you.

3. Share your ideas about what you want them to provide you with. You might not be a designer but you do know your business and industry very well so your ideas are valid.

4. Tell your designer about your competition. Together you can look at what your competition is doing well and what they are failing at. This is an element of market research and this level of market awareness will help you and your designer do everything better than the competition!

5. Be clear about your company image and personality. Discuss the image you are going for and work with your designer to communicate a clear brand style.

6. Give your designer a budget. Most people think that if they share a budget then this gives the designer an excuse to blow it. On the contrary, a budget ensures the designer can come back to you with a realistic plan of action. With a figure in mind they should come back with a proposal that clearly shows what you are getting for your money and what any variations will give you. This way you can decide whether to spend a little more for a lot more value or not. This makes the entire process much more efficient. If you work together on a long term basis then you can work out a yearly communications strategy and budget.

7. Trust them. This is probably the most important element. A quality designer will be a professional in their field, recommending only what is best for you, your business and your long term goals. Do you question your doctor? Or your accountant? You concentrate on running your business and leave your designer to get the results you need on the communications front.

The right designer will know how to ask all the right questions to they can get all the details they need to produce quality communications. With all this information at hand your designer will be able to make sensible, relevant and dynamic suggestions and recommendations. As a partnership you and your designer will have a clear idea of what you want to achieve, putting you in a good position to measure the success of various communication projects. Are their any other tips anyone else can share?

The lady explained how the website she had commissioned looked like an own brand off the shelf template with no quality to speak of. She found that the content was written with more emphasise towards ‘Google bots’ than human understanding (note that Google doesn’t even like dehumanised content). Design is like buying an invisible product. You can’t pick it up and give it a shake or try before you buy. It’s almost indefinable. So how do you avoid the design headache experienced by some?  

We recommend you ask the following six questions about your design team:

1. Most importantly, are they multi disciplinary? Building a website for example, involves web hosting and domain services, copywriting, site navigation, image sourcing, branding, web development, search engine optimisation, project management and design. It’s not just a big hole called ‘web design’ and the language of your team and your estimate of works should reflect this.
2. Do they have fans? Nothing speaks louder than what other people say.
3. Do you like what you see? Assess a portfolio of work. If you don’t like what you see it’s unlikely you will ever like their style.
4. Do you click? Take time out to meet the designer and if you don’t gel then don’t force the relationship.
5. What’s hidden in the small print? Don’t get caught out with the unforeseen.
6. Are they listening? Seriously, conversation should flow, not be one way. In fact you should be talking more, expressing your needs, your goals, your likes and dislikes.

…As for the project, we will keep you posted.

Backed with our UK experience in cutting edge technology and communications, and the knowledge we have of our home country, we believe we have something special to offer. sb works closely with Papayi to provide the very same services – quality graphic and web design for growing businesses. In fact this whole website applies to Zambian businesses too. As a company we are committed to empowering people and businesses by helping them to communicate effectively – taking your business or organisation to new heights. Contact the Zambian office here