The importance of imagery in communication cannot be overlooked. That’s why we work with a variety of graphic designers in the region and recently asked three of them to share their top tip for keeping your brand and messages front-of-mind in 2018.
Megan Zawertailo of Kindred Design whose focus is on delivering engaging brands in a rapidly evolving marketplace, recommends asking: “How responsive is your brand in 2018?”
“Responsive is a buzz-word for good reason – there is plenty that we need to respond to. We’re seeing the big players shaking up the traditional branding mantra of ‘consistency across all brand touchpoints’ as they seek to excite and inspire brand loyalty from an increasingly sophisticated and savvy population. Big brands are embracing multiple colour palettes, animated logos, custom illustration and fonts to set themselves apart visually from the competition,” Megan said.
“There’s an increased awareness that better branded and curated social media content is one of the likely drivers behind this shake-up of design traditions… it is vital for business brands to keep one step ahead in a fast-moving world.”
Emma Phillips of Merge Studio who works with many new businesses also referenced tech trends, saying they reinforce that visual branding is so much more than a logo.
“Secondary design elements such as colour schemes, typography and image/photographic style all become part of the wider visual branding of a business,” Emma said.
“In today’s screen-based environment, they are more important than ever. The majority of this information is viewed quickly and decisively and it is the repeated visual cues and references of a solid visual brand that enable businesses to connect and engage with their audiences even before they’ve stopped to read a word of content.”
Emma advised that a well thought-out style guide proves an invaluable resource.
What’s a style guide? It’s contains all the information about the visual branding of your business. It can incorporate your logo in all its variations, rules on how the logo should and shouldn’t be used, colour palette references (hero colours, secondary colours), fonts and imagery guidelines.
Organisations with smaller budgets get the best results when they keep their collateral cohesive says Emily Burke of Me & Em Graphic Design
This means ensuring your branding is used in a similar way across all your platforms (eg. brochures, signage, advertising, web).
“Viewers will easily recognise it and remember it, and so will be comfortable with contacting you when the time comes and they need your services,” Emily said.
“You can achieve this by using just one or two fonts (one for headings, one for text) and by spending a little money on getting professional images of your products or services. This can be invaluable as you can ensure the images marry up with the message you are sending your customers.
“Another really important point is that if you are not experienced in designing posters and brochures and working with images for print, you will save a heck of a lot of time and stress by employing a graphic designer to do it for you.”
All three agree with that!