Graphic Design Logo Creation Printed Literature · It’s not just the logo – it’s all about perception. What is a brand? It s a confused term. It s come to mean different things
Design EssentialsHow to use design to create powerful marketing literature and build a successful brand
davidbradburn
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For most of us, at some point we’ll need to get our message over in written form. That may be to our target market, it may be to existing clients or some other group of people, but in each case you can use some element of design to help get that message over, stand out from the crowd, get people to take notice and even influence their actions.The principles of design largely apply across the board - to websites and other forms of visual communication. Of course, design isn’t something that has a right or wrong answer, so whilst some of these principles are very strong, they aren’t hard and fast rules. Besides, every rule is made to be broken - there’ll be exceptions. But to break a rule you should understand why you are doing it.
It’s not just the logo – it’s all about perception
davidbradburn
Sticky Note
What is a brand? It’s a confused term. It’s come to mean different things and, in part, that’s why it’s sometimes hard to pin down. Often people confuse branding for just being the company logo and perhaps the look and feel of their literature and website - the visual brand if you like. That’s just the tip of the iceberg though - the part you can see. The invisible bit is far larger - it’s the company as a whole and the perception of that. Perhaps the best way of looking at it the brand is how someone views a company when they have nothing - no literature, website, employee or anything else - in front of them. It is just the impression that they have left in their mind. So if it’s an impression left in each person’s mind it will be different for each individual and it is pretty much impossible to control. But you can influence their perceptions. Those perceptions will change too - sometimes gradually, sometimes overnight.
davidbradburn
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Examples of companies for which brand perceptions have changed in recent times.
Why should Ibuy from you?
davidbradburn
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Why does the brand need to be strong?Whether a business has 1, 100 or 1000 employees, it needs to be able to clearly answer the question of “Why should I buy from you?”Every business is fighting in some way for the attention of their customers (and potential customers) and of their wallets too. What makes them stand out? What makes them memorable? What generates the trust? One way or another, that comes down to brand.If your brand is very strong you are able to do things like:Charge a premiumGet customers coming to you - seeking you outEnjoy word of mouth referralsBuild a loyal followingHow do you achieve that?The good news is that it’s not down to money. Yes, some of the strongest brands do have big budgets, but that only works if they’re getting everything else right too.
Know your values
davidbradburn
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Know your values - why you are doing it. That’s at the absolute heart of the brand. Build everything around those values.
Know your values Be ‘you’
davidbradburn
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Be you. Don’t imitate others - observe what they are doing and be influenced by them by all means, but deliver and present yourself in your way. Don’t pretend to be a huge company if you’re a one man band - be proud of what you are. Clients will find out the truth anyway so be honest from the start. And believe in yourself - believe in your product and believe that you have the right to be there in the room.
Know your values Be ‘you’ Be consistent
davidbradburn
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Be consistent in your communication. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t room for variation - you may well have different target groups that you communicate with in different ways - but your website, printed literature, social media, face to face networking, everything has to be presented in a consistent manner.
Know your values Be ‘you’ Be consistent Be clear
davidbradburn
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Be clear. Position yourself in the market. Know your customers. Know who you are looking to speak to, who you can help, who you want to work with. Know what isn’t right for you too! One of the hardest lessons that I think we all have to learn is saying no, but if you don’t you not only risk going off on a tangent that is neither enjoyable nor profitable. You also risk weakening your brand by taking on something that you will struggle to deliver at your normal standards.
Your logo isn’t your brand … but it both influences and reflects it
davidbradburn
Sticky Note
Visual brandYour visual brand is a reflection of the wider brand as a whole. You’re trying to represent all those things we’ve talked about in visual form. You can never tell that full story in this way but you’re pointing people in the right direction to getting them to understand it in the way you want them to. The visual brand may be the first point of contact that someone has with the business so it carries a great deal of the responsibility for influencing people’s view of the company. Again though, it has to be consistent with every other point of contact that the customer has, but the tone of the design, the colours, typography, logo, layout, imagery all come together to help to steer people’s perceptions.Logos come into this. We see loads of them every single day and the best ones will stick in your mind, at least subconsciously so that it helps you to recognise that business when you see it again. It’s one aspect of brand awareness. The most effective logos will stand the test of time, they’ll be memorable, usually simple and uncomplicated, and they’ll be appropriate to the business that they belong to. Along with other elements of the visual brand they’ll help influence the perception that you have of that business – is it a fairly corporate business or something more relaxed? Traditional or more forward thinking? Is it aimed at adults or children? There are lots of little indications we pick up - colours, fonts, imagery, style all play a part.
Memorable
MemorableSimple
MemorableSimpleUnique
MemorableSimpleUniqueAppropriate
Why do we still need printed literature in a digital age?
davidbradburn
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It could easily be seen as taking the luddite approach, sticking with the old way of doing things. However, print works very well and can be extremely effective if it goes hand in hand with websites and email marketing etc. Again, we come back to the consistency of the brand’s presentation, but the key thing is that we find the methods that are most appropriate for reaching our customers.
What will capture the attention of your target market?
davidbradburn
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Not everyone has a computer or a smart phone, and of those that do not everyone uses them to the same extent. Sometimes you’ll want to pass information to people in a situation where they’ll be more likely to choose to take notice if it’s in a printed format. There’s actually evidence that direct mail has become more effective recently. Basically much of what used to be done that way switched to email and that’s created the space for well crafted direct mail campaigns to really be noticed.Similarly another designer was telling me recently that they carried out a survey and measured the responses from the recipients of a printed newsletter that they produce. In that case the feedback was very positive - the readers liked the fact that they could read it when they got 5 minutes away from their screen. If they were at their desk they’d have some other task to do so wouldn’t have that time to digest the information.What has changed is the nature of what we produce. Online marketing options and advances in digital printing - making small quantity print runs a realistic option - have changed things. Rather than the large brochures that we might have done 10 or 15 years ago, many businesses are now doing smaller, more targeted campaigns that give a certain amount of information and then direct the reader to the website if they want to know more. That’s a case of getting all marketing methods working together.Whichever method is used, crafting and targeting the campaign is more important than ever. Know your market and know how to reach them, and create a strong brand that allows you to do that.
Design essentials
davidbradburn
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What should you invest in?With all those things in mind it’d be easy to spend a fortune. We should all be wary of doing that if it isn’t necessary though. When I started I got a daft number of business cards and letterheads printed. Fortunately it didn’t cost me much but when I redesigned my own branding last year I still had some of that initial order. Over 8 years in business and I was nearly out of business cards. Many of the letterheads were given to my daughter to use as scrap paper! It’s laughable really but I learned a bit lesson in what to advise clients.So what are the essentials?At start up stage I actually don’t think that it’s sensible for most companies to spend huge amounts on design, print and websites. There are exceptions, but most companies evolve considerably in the first six months to a year. You learn so much in that time. Some things work as you expect but some things definitely don’t. So for many it’s best to create a first identity that will last maybe a year or so and then refine or replace it once you’ve found your feet. Maybe have a simple logo designed, a set of business cards - 500 will be plenty for most people and is also the point where the price tends to start being reasonable - perhaps a Word template letterhead or invoice template, a basic website and maybe a set of flyers to hand out at networking.
Time to grow
davidbradburn
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As the business develops you’ll then have a better idea of what you’ll use and where the company’s strengths are. So that may be the point where you put a little more investment in - undergo a more thorough logo design process, perhaps create sub brands for specific target groups - a premium service, for example - spend a little more on literature, maybe a couple of different flyers for different services or products, perhaps, create a much more comprehensive website. Paper stock. A pull up banner might be worth it if you go networking where they’re encouraged.
Showcasing your message
davidbradburn
Sticky Note
Remember that the main purposes of all graphic design is to influence peoples perceptions, encourage them to take notice and read whatever information we wish them to read, and to take whatever action we wish them to take. To do that we need to understand what will resonate with them and what the triggers are that will make them act. The text may have been created by a copywriter and the overall message will be part of a marketing strategy. The design is the bit that showcases that text in the best possible way and encourages and helps people to read and digest the information. It’s the presentation of the information.We’ve spoken about logos. However, the odd thing is that nobody else really cares about your logo. At least, nobody cares about it as much as you do. It’s there to people them remember you - so if your purpose is raising brand awareness and recognition, such as on a pull up banner - it may well be prominent. But in cases where people are reading information there are more important things for people to see first.
Headline
Would you like to meet local business owners?
Would you like to meet local business owners?
davidbradburn
Sticky Note
If you think about designing a flyer, this is something where you’re trying to get a message out there. You want people to read and take in your information. The most prominent thing needs to be the headline. So that’s likely to be big, bold and snappy. Not necessarily at the top of the page but certainly the most prominent thing on the page. Often it’s good to have the headline as a question too, because it immediately gets the reader thinking about their situation and how things can be made better for them.
You’ll see plenty of examples where the logo is up at the top, taking up a big chunk of the page. In most cases, that’s the wrong place for it. The logo is a signature for your business and that’s important in being remembered and setting the right tone. The reader doesn’t care - until they’re interested in what’s on offer they aren’t going to care who’s providing it. On a letter your signature goes after you’ve given the information. It's the same for flyers, so the best place for it will typically be down in the bottom right.
Image and subheader
Networking events, support and training workshops for business owners
Would you like to meet local business owners?Networking events, support and training workshops for business owners
Would you like to meet local business owners?
davidbradburn
Sticky Note
You might have some kind of image to catch attention and to help people to get the context of that headline too. That adds interest, attracts attention and acts as a signpost for the headline.
Hierarchy of information
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Would you like to meet local business owners?Networking events, support and training workshops for business ownersUr sedias ex et es quodis aut liquate ception senduciat rest, as excerit lacepedit moloren daeprae pratem.Atemque voluptaturi dolecat ureperum es volorum, eum explibus doluptat. Gent lat ut ratinciis ad quidips andae. Et et pro maione nobitia quatur, odiam, volore, temporitiur, liquo estiati busdaerit il mi, solorepe eaque eictur?
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At The Lymm Hotel (WA13 9AQ)
23 June Design Essentials
21 July Web Essentials
29 September Warrington Network Central
20 October Speed Networking
Would you like to meet local business owners?
davidbradburn
Sticky Note
Then you then need to then give people the information in the order they wish to receive it. Create a hierarchy for the information. They’ll read the headline. If that’s of interest they’ll read the next bit - maybe a short sentence summarising what it’s about. If that’s still of interest they’ll read a bit more. If it’s an event you’ll have a date and venue. If they wish to attend they’ll then read on to find out about tickets etc. If all of that was given equal prominence though it’s a chore to read it all and your eye may be drawn all over the place, so you don’t take anything in. Give them enough information to get them to act but not so much that they don’t need to speak to you.
Call to action and contact details
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Would you like to meet local business owners?Networking events, support and training workshops for business ownersUr sedias ex et es quodis aut liquate ception senduciat rest, as excerit lacepedit moloren daeprae pratem.Atemque voluptaturi dolecat ureperum es volorum, eum explibus doluptat. Gent lat ut ratinciis ad quidips andae. Et et pro maione nobitia quatur, odiam, volore, temporitiur, liquo estiati busdaerit il mi, solorepe eaque eictur?
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Add a call to action. What do you want them to do next? Tell them! Phone today, visit the website, book your place... And of course, tell them how to get in touch. You don’t need to give them everything - phone and web address maybe enough. Perhaps a couple of other methods too, but it’s a balance between how you want them to make contact and how people will be willing to do so. You can make every other option available on the website anyway.You don’t get more value from your print by using more ink though. Designers will refer to ‘white space’. That doesn’t necessarily mean is has to be white, but it’s space around each element or section. It allows the room to breathe - for the reader’s eye to see the different elements rather than it all being one mass of information which is hard to decipher. Allow space around the different elements so it’s not all one big mass, all demanding attention in one go.
• Know your values
• Be ‘you’ • Be clear about what you deliver
• Put yourself in the shoes of your target market. Present the information they need • Communicate consistently
Summary
For a free, no-obligation review of your branding and literature contact Dave Bradburn on 01565 659089 or email [email protected]
Creative design to help you: develop a brand that you’re proud
to shout about.
create a powerful fi rst and lasting impression.
deliver an effective and memorable message.
You’ve got to grab people’s attention, make a good impression and help them to understand how they can benefi t from your service or product.
By presenting your message in a way that encourages people to take notice and makes it easy for them to access the appropriate
information, you will positively infl uence their perceptions and persuade them to take action.
That’s exactly what we can help you to do. Quite simply, we ensure that people understand just how good you
are at what you do.
Whether you’re promoting an event or advertising your business, it’s no good being shy...
Graphic Design | Logo Creation | Printed Literature | Websites ...
Dave Bradburn is an absolute pleasure to work with. He takes the ideas out of my head and turns them into graphics and brands I am proud of. I give the world’s worst brief, but he understands it and makes it work, delivering exactly what I am looking for.
Stefan Thomas, No Red Braces and The Networking Retreat
I have used Opus Creative Design on a rush job and all I can say is WOW! Dave delivered on time and in incredibly tight timescales. The quality of his work is fantastic and he delivered exactly what I wanted. I have already recommended Dave to others. Superb customer service!
Emma Mills, Mi PA
Dave has always understood what I was looking for and has taken on board my own ideas as well as sharing the wisdom of his own experience. Dave is able to adapt his approach to my needs so that the design process is straightforward and painless. On every occasion the service has been great.
