Whatever your business, profession or trade most of us have some sort of cross to bear. A graphic designer’s lot is not a happy one when a cracking new brand never gets to show its face in the market place; with no return on the financial outlay. For a variety of reasons the proud owner fails to get a new venture off the ground
GREAT DESIGN COSTS TOO MUCH TO BE LEFT ON THE SHELF!
In most instances the designer is paid in full and copyright for usage passes over to the seasoned business owner or newly-established entrepreneur along with high hopes and aspirations. At that stage the new brand, incorporating perhaps a logo device, business name and tagline, will have incurred costs of at least £350 to £600 depending upon the number of ideas worked up, numerous revisions and final artwork in formats ready for execution either through a designer’s preferred business partner or the brand owner’s chosen printer or online platform. In many instances the same designer will have also applied the new brand on a variety of marketing support materials ranging from the humble yet still essential business card (often double sided) as part of a stationery suite, email sign-offs, web-specific graphics or even a PowerPoint template!
WHY BOTHER IF YOU’VE BEEN PAID FOR THE JOB?
So just why are we designers grieving over good stuff that never sees the light of day in a social media posting or the local weekly newspaper? Well, it’s all about pride in our designs and we really regret not seeing a client embracing and bringing the brand alive. We have a passion for providing our clients with the tools to make their venture a success and often a brand becomes a nameplate on your business premises, graphics on your company vehicles or simply attracting online custom for your products or services. Sometimes it takes weeks of deliberation and toing and froing before a brand is finally signed off by a client and we gratuitously share in the anticipation of seeing its launch and get a real buzz as marketing materials are well executed, reach the target market, do the job and proud owners reap the reward of their efforts. Yes, we do like to share and bask in a bit of that reflected glory!
ARE DESIGNER’S SIMPLY MASSAGING THEIR CREATIVE EGOS?
But it goes a bit deeper than just feeding our creative egos. A successfully executed brand in the market place, whether it be local, national or solely digital is a showcase for our design skills and we are convinced that word of mouth and recommendations are just as vital to our continued success as a creative-looking website fully optimised for a page one search ranking on Google and displaying a good quality portfolio of our recent work. At DSD for example, the eponymous owner Dan Summers says: “We are extremely proud of a high return rate of existing clients and recommendations leading to regular new business.” Adding: “New design briefs as a direct result of existing clients and recommendations are already running at record levels in 2018”.
CREATING BRANDS THAT WORK WONDERS FOR YOUR BUSINESS AND STAND THE TEST OF TIME!
Dan, an independent studio-based graphic designer specialising in innovative branding, genuinely believes that each of the brands included in the above montage are examples of great stuff that would have worked wonders for businesses and organisations today and in all probability would have stood the test of time. If you’re impressed by what didn’t quite make it and would like him to design or refresh your brand give him a call today on 01245 465324 to kick-start the design process to reignite your aspirations, visualise your ideas and turn them into desirable and effective brands!