“Design is so simple. That’s why it’s so complicated.”
~ Paul Rand
(Famed Graphic Designer & Prof. Emeritus at Yale)
Graphic design is the face of your business.
The usefulness of graphic design extends beyond your logo and your website – it’s essence is visual communication. It is the bridge between your audience and your marketing message.
Whenever we talk about brand strategy, strong graphic design is at the core. Good graphic design legitimizes your product and service offerings as both professional and desirable in the eyes of your customers. How would you feel if you were talking to someone about a high ticket service offering and they handed you a flimsy card made from a template at a cheap online printer? Or storefront window signage printed from the back office printer and taped to the glass? You would (at least subconsciously) feel that the presentation and offering was not in alignment with one another – leading to a mistrust or uneasiness about the business itself.
There are more practical aspects to good design as well. Since the goal of design is communication, legibility is a must! Font choice/size, color contrast/harmony, and visual hierarchy are all critical factors that a designer will think about. Ever been handed a business card or drive by signage you can’t read? Yeah, this stuff is important.
The first time a visitor interacts with your brand in any capacity will set the tone for the rest of your business relationship. Stand-out supplementary marketing materials such as business cards, advertisements both printed and digital, catalogs, social media assets, signage, etc., are imperative for your business’s growth. An average person sees thousands of marketing messages a day – don’t let yours get lost in the shuffle!
Why hire a designer?
Just about anyone with a computer can create graphics, but without research and strategy – and a well defined brand spec (you do have one of those, don’t you?) – your business’s outward appearance can quickly become a hodge-podge. Perhaps you bought a stock logo, then used a business card template available from an online printer, then you let the art department of the publication you purchased ad space from design its layout, etc, etc. This lack of cohesion will water down your ability to create trust and recognition and simply result in poor communication to your target market. And the goal of any visual design is clear communication. Clear communication leads to the sale.
Graphic design far to often is treated by businesses as something of a luxury when budgeting or planning for new projects. When it comes to small businesses, taking a ‘we can do it ourselves’ approach is understandable and often necessary. The trouble is that creative tasks are highly skilled activities and demand to be treated seriously.
“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.”
~ Ralf Speth
CEO Jaguar Land Rover
Fire Up Your Print Game
The awesome thing about working with a designer on print collateral in particular is that your options become wide open. Our knowledge of paper choices and finishes, inks, foils, die-cuts, embossing (oh, my!) will make you stand out! Don’t settle for the standard finishes available at budget online printers… a good designer will know how to get you bang for your buck.
Everyone should know the feeling of handing out their business card and the recipient saying “Whoah!”
Design Packages We Offer
Whether we’ve worked on your brand identity ourselves or are following your brand spec guidelines, we’ll create pieces that will get you noticed and fit cohesively into your established brand visuals. If you currently do not have a defined brand spec, we may suggest that we take you through the process.
For a package of multiple materials or a piece or two a-la-carte, we’re here to help! Below you’ll find pricing guidelines for tiers of assets. Fill out our inquiry to let us know of your particular needs and we’ll work up a quote for you!
Tier One
- Including, but not limited to...
- business cards
- social media graphics
- rack cards
- letterhead
- envelopes
Tier Two
- Including, but not limited to...
- brochure
- flyer / poster
- signage
- digital ad sets
- med - full page printed ads
Tier Three
- Including but not limited to...
- booklets
- catalogs
- multi page / folded document
- banners
- product packaging
Still have burning questions?
Absolutely! Sometimes, clients have printers to whom they are loyal and we are happy to deliver print-ready files to you to do with as you wish.
But, some of the most fun we have as designers is consulting with you on the finished printed product. We’ll advise you on paper choice, inks and special finishes, etc. We’ll do the work of finding the right (and economical) printer and take care of all the technical details for you. You’ll be billed for our time, but will pay for printing at cost.
The easy answer is yes, but we take into account a client’s budget and the options available with the vendor. We’ve used budget online printers, high end print companies and everything in between. We’ve seen the good, bad and the ugly! So, we know where to go to get the wow you need.
It’s certainly possible, as long as the document was created with the Adobe suite of software. Occasionally, we might come across a font licensing issue or assets, like images, have been resized or compressed making it difficult to transfer to a new type or size of document. But, we’re happy to take a look!