You’ve invested a substantial chunk of your budget in that fantastic new visual identity that really shows the essence of your brand, and you’re reluctant to spend even more of that hard earned cash on “design stuff” – I get ya! I’m a solopreneur too, and I know that you always have to prioritise. Even so, I’d still like to tell you why setting aside some cash for design services may well be a sensible investment.
1: I’m going to repeat myself: you’ve just invested a substantial chunk of your budget in that fantastic new visual identity
If you’ve invested time and money to have something designed by a professional, it’s not really a good idea to try and recreate that look on your own. Even small changes to the fonts and colours can make a huge impact to the overall look and feel – and in a worst case scenario you could even weaken your brand by losing that consistency. A professional designer knows what fonts and colours to use, and how. He/she knows the correct placement of your logo and other visual assets and will always make sure to maintain a consistent look, so your visual communication is always on brand!
2: Time is money
This might hurt, but I’ll say it anyway: the design you’ve painstakingly spent hours (add some swearing too, maybe?) putting together in Photoshop, would most likely have taken a professional designer less than half the time – and with a better result. Why? They have the right tools for each job, and the experience to use them efficiently. Additionally, most designers have a trick or two up their sleeve to save you money on the production side of things: like knowing which print formats are good for reducing paper waste = cheaper cost of printing.
Leaving the design job to the experts frees up your time, so you can focus on what you do best.
3: First impressions count
When you meet someone face to face, you have 7 seconds to make a good first impression. That’s not long. But compared to someone meeting your brand online or on a printed piece of collateral, it’s an eternity. 0.2 seconds (yes, you read that correctly) is the time it takes for someone to form a first impression when visiting your website for instance. Holy crap. That’s less than half a second, folks.
Mediocre design can potentially scare a potential client away before they’ve even read about your fantastic product or service. I’m pretty sure we don’t want that! A professional designer has the knowledge and skills to make your brand stand out and look appealing to existing and potential clients.
4: You want results
You might have a rough idea of how you want your marketing collateral to look, and some thoughts about what you’d like to achieve, but you’re struggling to make it look “right” on paper (or screen)? A good designer will be able to go through your ideas and goals with you, connect it to your brand’s core values and visual identity – and then make sure the end result doesn’t just look good, but also helps you achieve what you set out to do.
5: You’ve got better things to do
Working out. Sleeping. The kids. Your other half. Hiking. Watching cute kitten videos on YouTube. Knitting. Spending time with friends. Finally finishing that book you never have time to read. Meditating. Gaming. Art classes. A city break in Paris. Facebook. Walking the dog. Netflix n’ chill. Fixing your car. A weekend away with the girls/lads. Tweeting about politics. Or… making money (see section 2).
TILBUD: OPPFØLGINGSPAKKE
For å gjøre det litt lettere å outsource designjobben, tilbyr jeg en egen oppfølgingspakke. Bestiller du denne pakken får du inntil 5 timer som du kan bruke til det du måtte ønske av mine tjenester til rabattert pris: kr 4 400. Du sparer altså 20%, og kan slappe av i visshet om at helheten i din visuelle identitet ivaretas!
Tilbudet gjelder for kunder som bestiller eller har fått utformet visuell identitet og/eller profilmanual hos Petchy. Timene i oppfølgingspakken må benyttes innen 6 mnd fra ordredato. Pris er eks. MVA.
DIE HARD DIY?
Hvis du fremdeles står fast ved at du ønsker å gjøre designjobben selv, så har jeg et par tips til deg:
Invester i en detaljert profilmanual – og følg den til punkt og prikke. En detaljert profilmanual, ofte også kalt brand guidelines, legger føringer for korrekt bruk av den visuelle identiteten, og er et essensielt verktøy for å sikre helheten dersom du selv eller noen andre skal lage grafisk materiell for merkevaren din. Her vil du få retningslinjer for korrekt bruk av farger og fonter, korrekt plassering av logo og andre designelementer, bildestil, tone of voice og andre elementer som sammen skaper ditt helhetlige brand. Ta gjerne kontakt om du ønsker bistand med å få utformet profilmanual.
Skaff deg de riktige verktøyene – og lær deg å bruke dem. Adobepakken har etablert seg som det selvfølgelige førstevalget innen designverdenen. Dersom du skal produsere materiell på egen hånd, vil jeg anbefale at du starter her. Du vil sannsynligvis ha størst nytte av InDesign (til å sette opp trykksaker som annonser, plakater og brosjyrer, og produsere trykklare PDF-filer av disse) og Photoshop (til bilderedigering, samt å produsere bildefiler til digital bruk). Men vær advart: læringskurven er relativt bratt, og man blir ikke nødvendigvis snekker av å eie en hammer. Vær forberedt på at du må investere en god del tid i å lære deg hvordan du bruker disse programmene, og at det er lett å ende opp med inkonsistent visuelt uttrykk over tid – noe som igjen vil gjøre merkevaren din svakere. Det er også mulig å få utformet maler som man selv kan redigere i den relevante programvaren. Det er da vanlig å betale en designer for selve utformingen + et avtalt beløp for frikjøp av originalfilene.