People go crazy for graphics. Nearly 300,000 Americans work as graphic designers. This may seem excessive, but every marketing campaign relies on graphic design to some extent.
If you need some help marketing a product, you should consider some graphic design ideas. But don't go off and make a graphic design logo just yet.
What is graphic design? What principles animate it? What are some steps you should follow when marketing your product?
Answer these questions and you can launch a beautiful and successful marketing campaign today. Here is your quick guide.
Graphic design is about creating visual content to communicate ideas. It incorporates text, images, and interactive elements in order to encourage a viewer to do something.
Graphic design overlaps with many forms of marketing. But it has some distinctions.
Many graphic designers focus on user experience, considering how viewers would perceive their design. This includes thinking about accessibility and adapting designs to accommodate people's limitations.
In addition to considering a viewer's limitations, a designer must think about their emotions. Designs can generate emotions in several ways.
Color is perhaps the most prominent way. Each color elicits a different response in the viewer. Bright colors are energetic and aggressive, while darker colors are subdued and serious.
Some colors are coded within various cultures. In the United States, red means stop while green means go. Using green in a company logo can encourage the viewer to visit the company.
Font is another important choice. Sans-serif fonts like Arial have a friendly and informal air. Slab fonts like Darius are more imposing, yet they project power and confidence.
It's also important to recognize that certain fonts are easier on the eyes depending on how they're being read. Sans-serif fonts work best for digital works and serif fonts work best for print.
Information should appear harmoniously. Many people read fonts from biggest to smallest, so the most important information should be large.
Graphic design works best when it accompanies a broader marketing strategy. A company should have a good idea of what its brand and products are like before thinking about graphic design ideas.
Think about what you want to promote about yourself. You may want to seem more trustworthy and professional. You may want to show that you have new ideas and energy that older competitors do not have.
Do some research on what you have done in the past to promote yourself. You should stick to the themes of what you have done. If you want to show experience and professionalism, you shouldn't promote an image of youth.
You should also adhere to certain stylistic choices you have made. If you have a company mascot, you should find a place for it in your designs.
But you need to do something new. The easiest way to do this is to talk about your upcoming product or service.
Yet you should also do something visually different. You can incorporate new colors or textures into your designs.
Talk with your internal marketing team and engage in some customer research. Find a specific group of people you want to target and adapt your designs to their needs.
Loop in the graphic designer you are working with. Show them previous designs, research findings, and ideas you have.
Wherever you are in developing your brand, you should keep your designs clean. Keep text to relevant information only. In some cases, you may need to write out only one or two sentences.
Keep the graphics small. If you have a company mascot or logo, place it in a corner. Center your most important graphics and use bright colors to draw people's attention from far away.
There are many graphic design examples that show the power of clean design. The city of New York put out a line of posters to promote taxi cabs.
The posters had two main elements. The words, "If you hate waiting, raise your hand," sat in the middle. A sign of New York city cabs sat at the bottom.
The rest of the poster was orange like many taxi cabs are. The posters were minimalist, yet they indicated the value of taxis over waiting for buses or trains.
Contrasts grab a viewer's attention and draw them into the visuals. A design can create contrasts in several ways.
Many designs juxtapose light and dark colors together, namely white and black. Put the date and location of an event in white text over a black background to allow the details to pop out.
Putting elements on opposite ends of the poster creates a spatial contrast. The whitespace in between the elements lets the viewer rest as they look on.
Many companies unveil marketing campaigns in time for holidays. One reason why is because holidays have their own visual codes. A poster that contains red and green next to each other makes people think of Christmas.
If you are struggling to come up with marketing and design techniques, think about a holiday. You are not limited to the November-January holiday season.
Halloween is a great option, especially if you are promoting creative content. Many people visualize orange and black when they think of it. You can use fonts with serrated edges and graphics with sharp corners.
You can also focus on a less common holiday like Science Fiction Day. Pick a slogan that suggests the holiday and find appropriate graphics.
Graphic design is a great way to market a product. Designers make original visuals to promote products and advertise services.
User experience and emotional design are essential. A good design will elicit feelings in the viewer that prompt them into action.
Match your design to your brand and previous marketing efforts. Create clean graphics with strong colors.
Make meaningful contrasts with colors and space. When in doubt, pick a holiday and build your campaign around it.
Ian is the owner of Graphic Rhythm as well as other businesses that revolve around design, copywriting and Amazon marketplace selling. He's an expert in communicating persuasively and loves helping business owners and digital agencies breathe life into their projects and ideas.
He values generosity and attention to detail and strives to make sure these values are apparent in the services he provides and the businesses he owns.
When Ian isn't working, you can find him outside hiking, camping and spending time with his wife and children
Ian is the owner of Graphic Rhythm as well as other businesses that revolve around design, copywriting and Amazon marketplace selling. He's an expert in communicating persuasively and loves helping business owners and digital agencies breathe life into their projects and ideas.
Ready to get started?
Get in touch or create an account