Why Graphic Design Is Important To Your Business
When you are trying to trim your business budget, it might be tempting to think that your graphic design team isn’t essential. Although you may not need their services every single day, graphic designers are nonetheless an essential part of any business. If you want to do things in a respectable and professional way, graphic design is very important to your business. Let’s discuss some of the ways in which it can impact your bottom line.
1. Graphic Design Has Been Proven To Increase Profits
As with any business-related discussion, we need to focus on the bottom line. In most cases, that bottom line is profit. To be more specific, it’s all about margins: How much you spend versus how much you make. Graphic design is a case in which you spend a little in order to make a lot more.
If you don’t believe that, just take a look at some market research. As you can see, this study showed a big difference between companies that emphasized graphic design and those that didn’t. The difference in profitability was as high as 200%! This is partly due to the fact that all the biggest and most profitable companies make use of graphic designers.
2. Graphic Design Helps Customers Remember Your Brand
Although text is a great way to communicate ideas, the human brain is more likely to remember images. Images are much more vivid and concrete, whereas letters and words represent abstract ideas. This is probably why most of humanity’s earliest languages were pictographic (using picture-symbols rather than an alphabet based on sounds)in nature.
The ability of images to evoke emotions has been proven by science. So much so, in fact, that these researchers in China are trying to develop a digital tool that can help designers to build empathy with their target audience. We think this is a smart idea because it focuses on the human element rather than trying to automate an emotional process (which isn’t fully possible).
3. Good Graphics Make A Good First Impression
When you are trying to attract customers, you probably don’t have a lot of time. In fact, if some researchers are to be believed, you might have less than a second. Although these results have been disputed by some, it seems that one researcher named Gitte Lindgaard has proven such a thing. According to his experiments, you have about 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression on potential customers.
Dr. Lindgaard flashed websites at the test subjects for 50 milliseconds at a time. The subjects then rated these sites based on visual appeal. Then, the exercise was repeated with a longer time interval. Same images, same order, but more time spent viewing each one. The results were more or less unchanged. To be fair, visual appeal alone doesn’t always reflect the number of people who will follow through and do business with your company. However, this is yet more evidence that visual appeal and profitability are strongly correlated.
Here at Hyland Graphic Design & Advertising, we understand these facts very well. That’s one reason that our company motto is: “You only get one first impression, we’re here to make sure it’s the right one!” Once the customer comes to associate your brand with certain imagery, that connection is hard to break. Thus, you only get one chance to do it right.
4. You Live And Die By Your Brand
A company’s graphic design is intimately tied with its brand. For instance, who could think of Kentucky Fried Chicken without thinking of Colonel Sanders and the smiling face on the bucket? Even as you read those words, you probably thought about the Colonel immediately, didn’t you? That’s just one example of how brand association works.
Research seems to indicate that it’s a bad idea to change an old and well-established brand. Keeping things consistent makes sure that you do not ruin the associations that have been built over the years. Obviously, small changes are not going to be a problem, but fundamental changes often are. As evidence, we would show this study on the importance of brand consistency. Among other things, it does conclude that brand consistency results in more effective advertising.
5. Specific Images Appeals To Specific People
There are many instances in which a product is being marketed towards a very specific customer. These are often referred to as “niche” products. And so, when advertising items of this type, you would want to use images and language that appeals to that specific type of person. Obviously, there is always variation among groups, but certain trends can always be observed.
One needs no evidence to understand how this kind of thing works. If your product is mostly consumed by women, for instance, you want imagery and language that appeals to them. If your audience is mostly men, you do the same for them. This includes a little bit of research, as talking to people from your target audience will give you the most accurate picture of what they want. From there, you can tie those expectations to your branding and imagery.
6. Colors Have A Psychological Impact
Although this influence is not absolute, there is a lot of evidence to show that colors have certain effects on the emotions. People tend to feel a certain way when they see a certain color, and this produces a change in their brain chemistry that can be detected and measured. This represents yet another way in which graphic design can affect your bottom line.
Conclusion
In this article, we have endeavored to prove, beyond all doubt, that graphic design is vitally important to the success of any business. All of the above factors will be relevant to any kind of business, regardless of the specific goods or services you offer.
If you are in need of a good Philadelphia branding and design agency, you can call Hyland Graphic Design & Advertising at (484) 879-6145. We pride ourselves on being one of the most creative companies in Philadelphia, and we are always number one in customer service.
