Wondering how to refresh your marketing and website with design that is uniquely you? An illustration is an image or design element that has been created from scratch; it includes cartoons, avatars, comics, infographics, charts, maps, video storyboarding and much more. Illustrators are often fine artists and can create designs using digital tools or traditional mediums such as paint or pencils; sometimes multiple art forms are even combined in the one project.
Check out these five reasons why illustrations will give your business a creative edge and oomph to your brand that your customers will love.
1. Be Uniquely You
As illustrations are designed from scratch, the sky really is the limit!
A graphic designer is responsible for arranging visual elements including logos, imagery and text. In contrast, when you work with an illustrator, you can influence creative decisions such as the hair colour, facial expression and clothing design of an avatar or person. Need a map that shows directions to your business? An illustration can highlight a particular landmark in a clear and personalised way.
Similarly, your illustrator can create icons and infographics completely unique to your business and brand.
2. A PICTURE TELLS A THOUSAND WORDS
It’s no secret that the human brain can process an image way faster than text – 60,000 times faster in fact! Illustrations can help your customers understand and connect with your brand and business quickly. Think about what elements on your website or marketing material could be communicated with an image instead of text. For example, could an idea, product or package be represented with a concise icon instead?
3. Break Up Your Page Content
Websites and landing pages which use large paragraphs of text can be overwhelming to a customer and hard to digest. Diversify the way that you share information about your business by switching between sections of text and illustrations; show as well as tell.
Instead of listing the benefits of your business in a written list, add icons and imagery to demonstrate your offering.
4. Share Data Clearly
We all know that sharing data or statistics in marketing can become dry and a little boring. The catch is, sharing stats on how you’ve helped your clients helps you to celebrate your wins and attract new clients. For example, if 55 KNOTS helped Sally’s freediving business grow by 150% since starting work with 55 KNOTs in 2019, we can explore the use of illustrations to express this great result.
It might be a bar chart or an illustrated drawing of Sally underwater in a snorkel and mask, smiling giving a turtle a high five with 150% written in bubbles etc. Share your wins and keep data interesting with the help of an illustrator!
5. ADD CHARACTER QUICKLY
Communicating subtle mood, emotion and personality in your marketing is made easy with illustration. We know that using human faces in marketing and design creates an instant sense of warmth, connection and authenticity for your brand. Showcasing a clear positive mood or excited expression in character or avatar face, although small, can have a huge impact on the effectiveness of your digital marketing.
Now that you know the benefits of using illustration in your marketing — if you need any help putting together some avatars, maps or iconography for your business, jump onboard a 14-Day Free Trial of our unlimited design service!
From cars to shirts, designs are embedded into everything we see and own today. Some designs are more function-oriented, while others will be more aesthetic-focused. However, when it comes to websites, the balance of the two is vital. Lacking in either looks or utility can mean a bad website people loathe to use, causing them to leave the website quickly to look for another site. As a result, this will increase your bounce rate and decrease your site ranking on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) environment.
If you are worried that your website is not designed correctly or do not know how to do so, fret not. In this article, we will share four valuable tips on how to create stunning and professional designs for your website:
1. Remember to consider white space
This refers to the white area between your content, hence the name white space. Now, you may think that white space is wasted estate on your website, causing you to cram as much content as possible to maximise the space. Unfortunately, this is often a beginner mistake. Professionals know that white space is a designer’s best friend, and by ensuring there is enough white space, the web page becomes more breathable to a viewer!
2. Think about the typography
Texts have been used for many years by businesses to convey messages and ideas to their audience. For a website, the text plays another role other than conveying messages: it dictates the website’s looks. Besides merely sharing a statement, the way you implement the texts will directly affect how the website looks and feels. For this reason, you should limit your typefaces and font to two or three options. If you use too many, your website will look cluttered. Simplicity is the key here, and a simple design is one that will attract customers.
3. Focus on clean page layouts
As mentioned previously, simplicity is the key, and this is the mindset you must keep when designing your website. You may believe that a flashy and colourful website is excellent at attracting visitors. However, the reality is that it is more distracting. By realising that visitors want to quickly get in and out to look for the information you provide, you must offer an easy-to-read and digestible content paired with a simple design. This way, people are more than happy to visit your website and will not have a problem coming back for more!
4. Use colour and pictures tastefully
When it comes to colours and pictures, keep in mind that less often means more. However, we do not mean that you must not use colours or pictures at all. In fact, you should be adding some, but do not go overboard. Also, when picking pictures or colours, use something that reflects your brand and complements each other well. This will create a unified look to your website, ensuring nothing looks out of place or jarring, which can distract and hurt the user experience.
Conclusion
With website designs, you now realise that staying simple makes it much easier and fun to use for visitors. Also, there is less work on your end, not having to create a flashy website. However, designing a website is not an easy process because it takes a lot of effort to get it right.
If you do not have the time and resources to design your website, you should work with expert web designers online to do the job for you. Through their large portfolios, you can quickly decide which designer offers the design you like and work with them to develop a unique design for your company!
55 KNOTS is a creative agency in Australia, offering on-demand subscription-based graphic design to satisfy any needs. If you are looking for affordable graphic design services, be sure to get in touch with us today to see how we can help!
One of the most helpful things a startup business can invest in is affordable graphic design services. Since most startups barely have flexibility in funds initially, spending on marketing and creatives may be lower on the priority list. The market is incredibly competitive though, and there is a lot of visual content online that grab the attention of potential customers. One of the best ways for brands to share what it’s about, however, lies in a solid visual identity paired with high-quality content.
In order to establish a lasting brand identity, graphic design is crucial.
Here’s how a startup benefits from unlimited graphic design services in Australia:
Graphic design can make or break the first impression potential customers get
There are several avenues that you can use to reach audiences. Ads are a given, but there’s also your logo, packaging and website. It’s also possible for someone to catch wind about your business through someone in their circle sharing content from your social media. Whichever way it happens, it’s necessary that they get a great first impression.
No matter what you want to put out there about your brand, make sure to get the right graphics with the best quality. This includes 3D animation, illustrations and more. Having eye-catching, informative material consistently across your online channels will help turn casual viewers to full-paying customers.
Graphic design helps to create, establish and streamline a brand identity that’s visual
The ultimate goal of a business, of course, is to sell a product or service to turn a profit. Marketing is the best way to getting that message out there, from introducing your brand to updating your audience as you go along. Visual elements like your logo, packaging, social media content and website design carry a lot of weight. When you’ve established these, it will be easier for people to have brand recall.
Think about imagery such as a checkmark or rounded ears in the silhouette of a certain mouse. Certain brands came to mind, right? That’s the kind of power graphic design can give your brand.
Graphic design will be able to deliver personalised, strong, relatable advertisements
In order to really catch the public’s interest, putting highly creative ads out there are key. Relatability is a great way to begin a relationship with a potential customer since they love feeling like they have a one-on-one connection. You can go the comedy route and look into having something witty made up, or go another route and make heartwarming, inspiring content. Either way, connecting with consumers on such a close level will come in handy, especially for startups aiming to cut through the noise and stand out amidst stiff competition.
Conclusion
Brand identity is everything, especially when businesses are just starting out. A key part of this involves graphic design. There are multiple benefits to investing in graphic design even if you have a tight budget. You can really set your brand design and make the best possible impression on potential customers.
Looking for the best unlimited graphic design service? Reach out to 55 KNOTS today! We’re one of Australia’s leading creative agencies offering on-demand graphic design subscriptions.
Feedback is crucial for an effective, efficient, and harmonious graphic designer-client relationship. It ensures that designers deliver what is expected of them, and clients are satisfied with the outcome of the designs.
What makes the feedback loop effective is communication. As a client, you should send your feedback in the format that is easiest for both you and your graphic designers to understand.
Here are some methods to help you give effective feedback to your graphic designers:
1. Phone pictures
Some clients find it easiest to print out designs and give handwritten feedback to their graphic designers. If this sounds like you, sending phone photos of your handwritten notes may be the best way for you to deliver feedback.
Drawing, using arrows, and leaving labels on printed designs is a great way to give feedback for visual changes and small line edits because it is tactile. You can guide revisions by discussing your thoughts and ideas in the clearest way possible: by jotting them down, crossing things out, or scribbling some designs. It can also be powerful, especially when supplementing feedback that is challenging to verbally describe.
While this is excellent for line editing and can indicate changes clearly, remember that it has no spell check and your graphic designers have to retype any text you write. It can be time-consuming and cause additional rounds of revisions and lost time, especially when the scan or printout turned out bad or your handwriting is hard to read. Therefore, be organized when sending out manually annotated and scanned PDFs.
2. Digitally annotated PDFs
If you have access to the latest Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Acrobat Pro, or a similar PDF annotation software, you can provide your graphic designers with feedback through digitally annotated PDFs. This is best if you work with design subscription services and request designs with lengthy texts and long formats, such as annual reports or brochures with multiple revisions and comments.
This is a convenient way because the file is digital, and it stays in its original format. You no longer have to worry about printing it out, scanning it, writing on it, or emailing it back. In addition to this, it allows your graphic designers to copy and paste text easily, which makes their job easier as it eliminates the need to retype copy changes and reduces their likelihood of making typographical errors.
In addition, digital PDFs offer lots of text annotation options. You can add a note anywhere on the document and highlight words that have to be replaced or cross out the text to be removed.
3. Email
Professional communications typically occur through email. You can use this platform to provide details about the changes you would like to see on your designs when you ask for a graphic design subscription. This method is perfect for simple and easy-to-describe revisions. Avoid using this for long-format pieces and detailed edits to avoid confusion.
Conclusion
Providing clear feedback to your graphic designers helps you communicate your vision effectively and allows you to make the most of your money. Try the ways mentioned in this guide and determine the method that works best for you and the design piece that needs changes for an efficient revision process.
Here at 55 KNOTS, we unique tools to help you feedback like a pro and we offer on-demand graphic design subscription packages in Australia. Contact us for a free trial!
In the world of business and marketing, quality and appealing designs are everything. Whether you plan to have a web design, graphic design, or any other creative pursuits for your business, effective designing is vital. The chances are that you need to regularly update your website (for aesthetic and functionality), come up with pieces of content (whether texts, images, or videos), and boost your branding (through logo and design elements).
When it comes to designing, you have the option to hire a designer per project or have a subscription-based service. If you constantly need designs for your digital marketing and business, the latter option is a more viable solution. Here are three key reasons you should subscribe to a creative design service:
1. Availability and reliability
In this modern era, implementing digital marketing campaigns should be ongoing. Whether you are bound to produce a video, create infographics, or update your blog, you need an effective designer to help fulfil your needs.
It can be quite a hassle to look for a designer when you need to pursue a particular design project that happens consistently. By subscribing to the design service, you’ll be working with the same creative team who are readily available to pull off the required job. Ultimately, they are highly reliable since you’ve already worked with them previously.
2. Consistent, quality design outputs
When it comes to branding using various campaigns across various platforms, consistency is the key. As much as possible, your design experts, whether graphic or web designers, should be well-acquainted with your business objectives and brand image and identity. When everyone is on the same page, you’ll have quality design outputs that will promote your business and consistent designs for increased brand awareness!
What’s great about working with the same creative team is that these professionals already know your business, its goals and aspirations, as well as its image and character. As a result, they’ll be able to carry out the design outputs that will clearly represent your brand and resonate well with your target market.
3. Cost consistency and budget control
There’s no denying that implementing marketing campaigns is an expensive endeavour for any business. Hiring a graphic designer per project can be all the more costly for your digital marketing, yet it is vital to the overall success of your business. This is why you should find an effective way to save up.
What’s great about hiring a subscription-based service is the consistent pricing that comes with it. This means that there’s already a fixed price that you’ll have to pay regularly based on the contract. While you’re at it, expect your creative designers to come up with various promotional materials and digital marketing solutions every month, such as how-to-do videos, product photos, or logo designs. With these, you can consistently market your business as well as sell your products or services to your target user group.
Conclusion
At this point, you now know why it pays to hire a subscription-based design service for your business’s growth. As outlined above, you’ll be able to take advantage of their availability and reliability, consistent, and quality design outputs, as well as cost consistency and budget control. With all these valuable benefits, you have all the right reasons to subscribe to a design service monthly to kick your business’s marketing up a notch!
Are you looking for a design subscription service to take advantage of the benefits mentioned above? You’ve come to the right place, as we’re an unlimited design agency in Australia, offering on-demand graphic design subscriptions. Connect with us today to start your 14-day free trial!
Logos are symbols that distinguish companies. Ideally, a logo is immediately recognisable, something that conveys the brand’s personality. Whether you’re going for a brand refresh or doing graphic design for a new business, here are things you should consider.
It speaks to your target audience
Your logo should be unique enough to be distinctive and must have the core audience in mind. Also, it is the one aspect of your brand that all people will see, even those not part of your target market. As such, it should be something people wouldn’t mind seeing over and over again.
You might have different target markets, too; if this is the case, you need to define the broader audience. Market research will help you make your audience segments clearer to you, which enables you to design a better logo overall.
It conveys your brand identity
Your business graphic design should have goals and a personality, and you would have probably gotten this clear in your brand development initiatives. When a logo does not align with the brand identity, it could muddle your message.
Your brand may have aligned with your stylebook in the past. However, changes in your strategies, your campaigns, and your corporate thrust might have resulted in misalignments. It is why you should always consider how your logo fits with your mission, vision, voice, and the like.
It incorporates your brand’s plans
Your brand constantly evolves; it is the nature of business to adapt. As such, you should plan for this growth by As we’ve established, your brand will grow. This isn’t a matter of if, but when. If a brand does not evolve, it gets left behind, and updating a logo is one of the most noticeable ways to signal a change in a company.
Rebrands can bring up a host of emotions. On the one hand, it could be exciting for brand loyalists to accompany you in this part of your company’s journey. However, rebrands can be jarring for other people, and they might not appreciate the changes that new logos signal.
It references your brand’s history
As a go-between, you could get a business graphic design that strikes a balance between where you are and where you wish to be. Once you have prototypes, you could apply consumer journey mapping, customer research, or other things that could help you secure the opinion of the people most affected by the changes.
People don’t usually think about the origins of iconic brands. However, everyone starts the same way, especially in marketing; at the start, no one will know anything about your company. Beautiful design can only go so far. Without brand fulfilment, your brand will not have lasting power.
Conclusion
Make your logo design a deliberate piece of your brand strategy. That way, you can have an impact that you and your audiences like. It takes time to make anything useful, so waiting for your brand to develop fully will help you create a logo that provides people with the right story and the promise that you are making along with it.
For premium-quality subscription graphic design in Australia, get in touch with 55 Knots today. From business cards to landing pages, our team can design all the visual aspects of your brand and help you sail to success. View our portfolio and get in touch with us today to learn more!
