Don't believe that graphic design is worth the expense? Or, (even worse!) you think graphic design is important but you aren't the one who makes the decision on whether or not to purchase it? If you can relate to either of those questions, keep reading! We want to help convince either your boss or yourself that design is important: because it really really is.

What it means to incorporate graphic design

Graphic design is considered "visual communication" because designers are always trying to communicate a message—overtly or subvertly—through their work. This is not "art for art's sake," it's rather art that has been purposefully designed to convey a message and feeling for your company's brand. Your company's brand consists of all of the marketing, advertising, and design elements you put out to form the way your customers (and future customers) see you. This includes everything from your website, business cards, store signage, logos, media packages, banners, television spots, online banner ads, guerrilla marketing, to pretty much anything else you can think of to promote your business.

Designers have the tools and abilities to help brand your company.

Why hire a professional?

Senior graphic designer Amanda Welch of CMMS studio says it well, "Just because a person owns a computer and some design software does not make them a graphic designer. This would be the same as having the company's janitor handle the accounting because he knows how to balance a checkbook." When times are tough and there's a need to tighten the budgets a little bit tighter, many business owners will opt to have a friend or their kid who took one graphic design course at college make their logo. Even worse, many of them try to do it themselves when they have no former experience.

Here's Rich designing and pretending he doesn't know I'm taking his picture. You should all shame him in the comment section until he cleans his desk.

It's extremely important to have all of your designs be cohesive across your branding avenues. This means keeping fonts, CMYK or RGB colors, and quality the same across the board. Using a graphic designers will also help with production. I can't tell you how many times we receive design files from clients that we end up having to tweak and change to fit the dimensions of the sign, banner, mural, or wrap that they wanted! Thankfully, we have graphic designers in-house with the ability to fix these issues, but taking your designs that need to be fixed to a different printer may cause a lot of frustration on your part when they tell you they can't use the files.

Some other benefits of using a professional designer:

• They have access to hundreds or thousands of fonts and graphics that you may not even know about.
• Designers know the best ways to create files so that your graphics are always crystal clear, no matter how big or how small you want it.
• Most designers took extensive training courses, or at least have years of experience creating quality designs. 
• The majority of designers are proficient in software specifically created for design, including Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.
• They realize that everything from your letterhead to your logo is an opportunity to represent what your company is about and to increase name and brand recognition.

“If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design.” – Dr. Ralf Speth, CEO, Jaguar. Tweet this quote!

If you're not paying the designer to produce graphics, then he or she is not a professional. If he or she is not a professional, then you might as well have your intern make something in PowerPoint. As it is with most tasks that take specialty and skill, you really shouldn't cut corners or try an easy, cheap fix. You don't need to shell out a fortune to get quality design, but if you offer a fair commission you are much more likely attract quality designers and receive quality work. Refer to the designer's Venn Diagram below to see what we mean:

As you can see, when it comes to design you won't get great work if you are rushing the design or being so miserly you'd make Ebenezer Scrooge uncomfortable. And having great design is the whole point of hiring a graphic designer! Hiring a good designer is an investment that will pay you back (and then some) as your new (and amazing) marketing designs bring in new customers.

Have we convinced you? Contact us today to find out more about our graphic design services or click the button below for a free consulation!