We come across graphic design every day through flyers, billboards, social media ads, and websites. Although primarily appealing to our visual senses, graphic design is more than just aesthetics. It’s a form of communication between businesses and customers. It blends various elements such as photography, typography, and motion graphics, to inform, delight, and eventually convince people to purchase.

Data have shown how graphic design plays  a crucial role in business. In fact,  60.8% of marketers have stated that visuals are a key element to a company’s marketing plan. It has also been found that 94% of online customers would leave a website that has poor graphic design.

Let’s explore the many ways graphic design benefits businesses. Some of them may even surprise you.

Creates a Good First Impression

A company’s logo, website, and marketing materials create an immediate impression of what the company is like — serious or playful, traditional or trendy, etc. Graphic designers pull these elements together in a way that will give businesses a positive, lasting impression.

The first time a person encounters a brand in any capacity will set the tone for the rest of his or her relationship with the business. The first graphic a prospective client may encounter can be a flyer, a product packaging, a business card, a website sales page, or a social media post. Businesses should capitalize on the first step of a buyer’s journey by using relevant, updated graphics that convey their brand’s story.  

With society’s attention span getting shorter due to the constant barrage of information coming from multiple sources, businesses now have only a few seconds to capture and keep customers’ attention. For this challenge, images provide the perfect solution because they possess the power to communicate messages faster than words can. Graphic design also helps businesses rank high in search engines by using relevant and high-quality images.

Gives a Competitive Edge

Graphic design is vital for any business looking to rise above the competition. It helps businesses approach an idea or solve a problem in an innovative way. It can be used to empathize with customers by showing them what life would look and feel like with the problem solved by a service or product.

Moreover, a company with a memorable, striking graphic design will stand out from competitors with poorly executed graphics. Graphic designers research the visual presence of their client’s competitors to see what’s already out there. If competitors make use of dull color schemes, graphic designers will use bright, lively colors to make their clients stand out.  

Keeps Customers Interested

Whether they’re developing a new logo or redesigning their website, businesses that want to maintain their unique, attention-grabbing identity should use customized graphic design. This will set them apart from the competition and keep their customers coming back for more. Take for example how people choose which product to buy from a store.

More often than not, it all comes down to how a product is packaged. Packaging can speak to consumers in a way that will convince them to make a purchase.  It’s highly unlikely that anyone can think of an established brand that doesn’t have a recognizable logo or color scheme. Graphic design helps differentiate and promote companies by giving them an identifiable “face.” Businesses that have no competition may be able to get by without graphic design and branding, but for the rest, those two elements are vital to attain success.  

Whether on a website, social media, or printed materials, high-quality visuals capture attention more strongly than inferior, stock images. Online shoppers, for example, consider image quality as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. Graphic design uses high-quality photographs, illustrations, or videos to produce effective marketing tools.

Tells the Story

A brand’s story matters and graphic design is able to tell it effectively. Every business, whether it’s a small enterprise selling homemade jewelry or a multibillion  dollar global corporation, has a story to tell. Graphic design communicates to customers more than just words . It makes use of elements like fonts and color schemes to convey an emotion that supports a brand’s message.  

Having a branding guide will help businesses ensure that while a message might differ from design to design, the brand’s story will be consistent.

 The extensions and modules of Drupal are comparatively smaller compared to WordPress, but that doesn’t mean the platform is not customizable. A lot can be achieved with Drupal, but the learning curve is steeper, and it demands more effort for complex projects. The creative freedom Drupal gives to developers is probably the reason a lot of Drupal sites are unique.

Builds Credibility

Graphic design is important for any business, particularly the newly established ones, that want to create credibility in their industry. By investing in professional graphic design, a business sends a message that it is to be taken seriously. No person would probably purchase from a business that has sloppy, chaotic advertising materials.

Along with a strategically designed logo, content that relieves pain points gives the impression that a company carries out its daily affairs in a professional manner. The more content it provides that solves a problem, the more people will regard it as an expert in your field. Producing a consistent stream of content is key to building a strong, loyal brand following.     

As consistency and reliability go hand in hand, businesses should ensure their graphic design identity is consistent throughout their internal/external communications and marketing materials, because using multiple versions of logos and typefaces can make a business appear unprofessional.

Take up the Graphic Design and Branding Fundamentals at Q College and learn the basics of developing a brand guide, as well as the tools necessary to maintain brand continuity such as Adobe Creative Suite.  

Reference: Pereira, J. (2020). Design Wanted. 10 Key statistics why graphic design plays a vital role in marketing your business. Retrieved from: https://designwanted.com/10-key-statistics-why-graphic-design-plays-a-vital-role-in-marketing-your-business/