Statistics show that 80% of small business owners think graphic design is very or moderately crucial to their business’s success. So, what is graphic design? It’s mainly the craft of creating visual content to convey ideas and messages to the intended audience.
Graphic design for a small business ranges from social media ads and posts to mobile app and web design. Graphic design combines business and creativity because they create these designs while keeping in mind the goals of the business.
Let’s look at the types of graphic design, their importance to your small business, and some tips.
Table of Contents
4 Main Types of Graphic Design
Before we dive into the nitty gritty of graphic design for your small business, let’s first look at the fundamental types of graphic design that every small business owner should know about.
1. Visual Identity
This subset of graphic design consists of the visual elements of a brand that help convey its tone, essence, and personality to its audience. Graphic designers specializing in visual identity work with small businesses to create assets like color palettes, typography, and logos that represent a brand’s identity.
2. Marketing and Advertising
Around 11% of digital marketers spend over 15 hours per week on graphic designing to get the most out of visual content. This statistic highlights the importance of graphic design to create an engaging marketing campaign. To help with your advertising and marketing efforts, you can look into graphic design packages for your small business, such as postcards, flyers, posters, ads, brochures, email marketing templates, and more.
3. User Interface
According to a study conducted by Forrester, websites with a well-design UI increase their conversion rate by up to 200%. If your small business has a well-established online presence in the form of apps or websites, you should also invest in improving its user interface (UI).
A UI is important in website and app development for small businesses since it affects how users interact with your platform. Its graphic design elements include menus, buttons, micro-interactions, and more.
4. Packaging
Almost every product needs some sort of packaging not only for storage and distribution but to serve as an effective marketing tool as well. Every package you design for your small business is a chance to tell your brand’s story.
You need knowledge of print processes, industrial design, and manufacturing to create a package design. On the other hand, you can also look into graphic design services for your small business to leverage the expertise of well-seasoned designers.
The Importance of Graphic Design for Your Small Business
Graphic design is more than just creating logos and visual content for your brand; its impact goes much deeper than that. Graphic design helps you build your small business’s identity via logos, font choice, color schemes, and more. It helps convey your vision and story to your target audience.
Another reason why graphic design is important for your small business is that it helps you develop a personality for your brand, allowing you to give off a great first impression and stand out from the competition. All of these aspects tie in together to help your company look professional, build trust with your customers, and keep them engaged.
Due to its various benefits, graphic design is an important aspect of your small business. That said, you can either hire an in-house graphic designer or outsource professional graphic design services for your small business.
7 Graphic Design Services Tips for Your Small Business
It’s highly recommended that entrepreneurs outsource graphic design so they can focus on other important aspects of the business. However, if that’s not an option for you right now, the following tips will greatly impact the designs you create.
- Define Your Objectives
- Utilize Online Tools
- Be Consistent with Fonts
- Take Advantage of White Space
- Create Templates for Social Media Posts
- Stay Updated on the Latest Trends
- Keep It Simple
1. Define Your Objectives
Every project starts with defining objectives. This provides structure to a project and sets parameters to measure success. Setting your objectives will also help you come up with an appropriate design to attain them.
A key aspect of defining your objectives is identifying your target audience. After all, the design isn’t meant for you, the business owner. It’s meant to capture the attention of your target audience. When you have a clear definition of your target audience, you can avoid unnecessary revisions that could easily eat up your time and money.
2. Utilize Online Tools
AI-powered graphic design tools, such as email signature tools, custom t-shirt design tools, and logo maker tools, are easy-to-use tools designed for artists and non-artists alike. They allow you to create a professional-looking graphic design for your small business within minutes, saving you time and money. There are dozens of software and application available in the market today that cost nothing more than a few dollars in subscription fees every month.
3. Be Consistent with Fonts
Fonts or typefaces are important in graphic design. You should choose one that’s easily read and understood by your target audience. An important tip is to not use over three fonts at a time; however, being consistent with your fonts in all your graphic designs is just as essential. Consistency with fonts will help build your brand personality and make it easier for consumers to recognize you.
4. Take Advantage of White Space
White space, otherwise called negative space, pertains to the blank area between an image and content. It’s often mistaken as an empty space, but it can include colors, textures, patterns, or a background image.
There are two types of white space: active and passive. The former is intentional to help the audience focus on the content and provide a better design structure and layout, while the latter is a default space that makes letters and lines of text readable.
5. Create Templates for Social Media Posts
Any graphic design that’s repeatedly used should be templated when possible. One good example is social media posts. If you often make promotional posters for your small business, you can make templates and edit the details accordingly so you can repost them.
You can use one template numerous times, which is great for when you’re hiring professional graphic design services for your small business. It helps keep your posts consistent and recognizable.
6. Stay Updated on the Latest Trends
An effective graphic designer is updated on the latest trends. As a small business owner, you should be too, especially if you plan on creating your graphic design. There are numerous resources on the internet, such as blogs and infographics, that you can check out to get new ideas and put your finger on the pulse of the latest graphic design trends.
Updating your designs to keep up with the trends is necessary. However, you should also keep brand consistency in mind. You should keep a good balance between keeping things fresh and staying true to your company’s branding
7. Keep It Simple
If you want your designs to make a lasting impression on your audience, keep it simple. And this doesn’t mean you should have plain designs. It simply means you avoid adding superfluous elements to your design. For example, when you think of big brands like Nike, Apple, and Microsoft, they have simple and meaningful logos that resonate with their target audience.
Advantages of Outsourcing Graphic Design
The graphic designer’s job is not easy. It requires both creativity and expertise in the latest photo editing and imaging software. Depending on your needs, outsourcing your business’s graphic design can have its advantages. Let’s dive deep into why considering graphic design packages for your small business might be beneficial.
Lower Costs
There is some debate on this, but we think that outsourcing your graphic design will likely save you money. First of all, you won’t need to pay overhead costs like an office space. Secondly, you have plenty of choices available. For example, you can hire graphic design services for your small business based on your budget.
Saves Time
The hiring process in the US takes about an average of 23.8 days. Aside from being time-consuming, hiring an in-house graphic designer can be a tedious process that takes weeks of interviews to find someone who’d be a perfect fit. If you want to skip these hurdles, you can outsource the graphic design for your small business instead.
Scalable
If you have dynamic business needs, you can benefit from outsourcing to help meet demand. The best graphic design agencies can cater to your needs and allow you to add more people to your project when necessary.
Wider Talent Pool
If you don’t know much about graphic design, you’d benefit from looking into graphic design packages for your small business. Outsourcing your graphic design project to an agency will provide access to a wider talent pool and open opportunities for you to hire talent from around the world.
Small Business Graphic Design — Key Takeaways
Now that you have a better idea of what graphic design can mean for your small business, it’s time to decide whether or not you should do it yourself, hire an in-house graphic designer, or outsource to the best digital design agency that can cater to the growing needs of your company. If you want to save time and money and have access to a wider talent pool, outsourcing remains to be the best option.
