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Why graphic design is essential to your marketing efforts – online and off

Every business, no matter how large or small, is a brand. And brands express themselves in a multitude of ways. On the one hand you have verbal expression—the words that comprise your message and the voice in which it’s conveyed. And on the other hand you have visual—the colours, images, symbols, typography, and layout that make up your brand identity.

Each of these facets—the verbal and the visual—plays a central role in shaping the story your brand tells to the world. Just as the verbal constructs a compelling narrative that reveals your brand’s personality, so does the visual create an aesthetic framework inspired by your brand’s defining characteristics. Graphic design is the creation of the visual language of your brand.

Good graphic design enables you to convey your message in nonverbal ways that are remarkable and memorable. It allows for the all-important element of consistency throughout the various touchpoints via which your brand is expressed. While we are every day moving toward an all-digital world, the fact is a large part of marketing still takes place offline. A good designer ensures that your identity is consistent both online and off.

Online

The online world has brought a new dimension to graphic design and brand expression. No longer is design a one-sided experience, a projected message from object to subject. Intrinsic to the digital realm is the element of interaction, a dialectic exchange between the user and the medium. The best designers understand this fact, and use it as the starting point for everything they create. They take advantage of the dynamic nature of digital, and infuse your brand identity with impetus. A cohesive approach to graphic design should extend across your online efforts, including:

• Your website and extended online presence
• Search engine marketing campaigns
• Email marketing campaigns
• Social media platforms and initiatives

Offline

We might be hurtling inexorably towards a digital-only world, but until the day our minds are uploaded to the matrix, we’ll always have one foot in the physical universe. As it relates to marketing, that means print production is alive and well. No business exists entirely online. And the skills it takes to design for physical print collateral are not the same it takes to build a cool website. When possible, it’s best to work with a graphic designer who can handle your offline identity as well as your online presence. There’s no shortage of ways in which traditional marketing can work for you:

• Business Cards
• Brochures
• Stationary
• Marketing collateral
• Signage
• Expo Displays

From the internet to the tradeshow floor, there are countless touchpoints where your brand meets the world. At each of these instances, it’s important that your business is represented in a way that makes people sit up and take notice. Working with a graphic designer to help craft a brand identity that is as remarkable as it is unique is an invaluable investment.