Why Is Graphic Design Important and How to Use It

You know that graphic design and business go hand in hand. But the value of graphic design is anything but skin-deep.   

Graphic design is essential for creating different visual elements, such as a logo, business cards, or marketing materials. But why is graphic design important for the success of your business?

Today, we’re going to talk about the most important reasons why you need good graphic design. We’ll use real-life examples and case studies to illustrate the huge difference graphic design can make in branding, advertising, sales and customer experience.  

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Creating a strong brand image

The importance of graphic design starts at the cornerstone of your business: your branding strategy.

From a unique logo design to a memorable web experience, the way your business looks will reflect what it is about. Just as it will help people discover your brand, good graphic design will help them remember it.

Talking about good logos, it’s almost impossible not to mention Nike. And there’s a good reason why this brand is so exemplary!  Their simple, yet memorable logo and a great tagline, create a powerful brand message: regardless of your athletic abilities or even sports discipline Nike allows you to push yourself to do more.

A professional designer will create brand style guidelines to help you achieve branding consistency across your channel. So, whether prospective clients stumble upon your site or your social media profiles, they’ll instantly get an idea of what your brand is all about.

Visuals make a stronger first impression

This study found that when people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of said information three days later. Compared to that, if you pair that information with visuals, people will retain 65% of it.

And in terms of digital marketing, the same study also found another mind-blowing number: content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images.

Our focus is really short, so your marketing efforts will fail without visuals.

In this example, Chupa Chups used graphic design to create a simple and powerful message:  it’s a sugar-free candy. The copy is almost unnoticeable (and perhaps even unnecessary), but you get the message straight away.

Volkswagen used the power of great visual communication with this memorable ad promoting their new precision parking system.

Good design helps with sales

Why is graphic design important for business? There’s no more important reason than this. 

We’ve already established that graphic design plays a vital role in creating brand visibility. This is especially true for modern-day digital marketing, where you’re competing with hundreds of grands for a split-second of viewer’s attention.

But once you have their attention, great design can also boost your sales. 

As human beings, we are susceptible to things that look good, that catch our attention, and invoke emotion in us. A West Rock study shows that 63% of consumers make purchase decisions based on packaging design. In the world of web and mobile app design, 75% of consumers say they judge the credibility of a company based on web design.

So how about a real-life example?

The famous “Share a Coke” campaign is credited with a 2% rise in sales for Coca-Cola at launch, for the first time in a decade. Coke didn’t rebrand or create a new product; it just transformed the design of the product packaging to create a “just for you” feeling by personalizing the can or bottle for each member of its target audience.

It builds brand recognition and loyalty

Brand bias is a strong driving force for sales. As much as 82% of adults in the US claim loyalty to a product brand. And one brand that excels in creating customer loyalty, for both its products and services is Apple.

This ad perfectly conveys Apple’s key value proposition: belief in simplicity, good design, and superior quality. The optimal design of their products is something most Apple users are familiar with (e.g. did you know that almost all Apple notebooks have a slight indentation below the trackpad, allowing users to open their laptop with one hand easily?).

But you don’t need to know details like this to appreciate the great design of this brand. It’s enough to see Apple’s timeless logo design, and you already know what to expect.

If you want to achieve brand loyalty, you must persistently remind potential customers of your products and core values with your visuals: a good logo; layout techniques for a clean and comprehensive website design;  impressive and inspiring advertisements; beautiful packaging and branded social media pages—all of this needs to paint a cohesive brand image.

A visual language for your customers

The color palette, imagery, logo, typography, and design elements your brand will use, form a precise language through which you communicate with potential clients. Great graphic design can help you create your visual identity and brand guide, but also a unique narrative.

For Coca Cola, the use of red and white and cursive typography communicates that the brand is welcoming, homely, and warm. It sparks joy and makes us think of family and friends, of the times we spent on a table with a glass of Coke on it.

For Apple, the metallic and minimal designs, the lack of lettering on the products and the connection to groundbreaking innovations, give us the idea that they don’t want fluff, color, and emotion. They rely on quality and good design.

But, here is another wonderful example that might not spring to mind right away—Durex. As a manufacturer of condoms, they have to use objects that vaguely symbolize what they are advertising. Censorship often leads to ingenuity, so they found a way to be creative and smart with the little they have. They created their own, symbolic visual language.

Good design can beat the competition

Taking all the previous points into account, it’s evident that good business doesn’t exist without good design. From branding to advertising, potential clients will judge you based on their looks. With the right usage of basic design principles and a strong brand aesthetic, you can have good design too.

But what about your competitors?

Well, another critical reason why graphic design is important for any business is that a creative approach to design can help stay ahead of the competition. A great example to learn from is Absolut vodka’s iconic ad campaign. How can you make a sort of tasteless alcoholic drink, in a simple transparent bottle exciting?

Instead of the usual marketing strategies of claiming to be the best, Absolut offered a whole new experience, with ads that transformed the drink into a unique experience: from a bottle inspired by Andy Warhol to a special ad for every city, suddenly Absolut was different from anything else on the market.

And the results speak for themselves. When the campaign started in 1981, the drink manufacturer held a mere 2.5% market share in the US. At the end of the campaign, Absolut dominated the market, with over half of all imported vodka!

The bottom line

As a business owner, you might consider a DIY approach or occasionally hiring a freelancer for bigger tasks, such as creating logos. But the importance of graphics simply cannot be overstated.

Good design stands between you and your customers. It could be a logo they recognize and love, a user-friendly website, or ads they can’t help but click on. Graphic design is also an investment in the future of your business.

With a well-thought out brand identity and brand guidelines, the design process will become much smoother and cheaper. In many cases, design can directly impact sales and, therefore, your profit. 

Still, none of this cancels out the fact that graphic design can be expensive. 

Freelancer rates stand at about $35 per hour on average. When you think about daily design tasks, such as social media posts, or email banners, the costs . Traditional design agencies usually charge thousands of dollars for a single design project. And although they take care of everything, step by step, this is usually not something small businesses or startups can afford.

Unlimited design companies are a perfect alternative for getting graphic design. One flat monthly rate covers all your design projects and unlimited revisions. You never have to spend time finding and hiring designers, or worrying about hidden costs.

ManyPixels is a leading subscription-based service with thousands of happy customers in our ranks. See how we compare to other services, or book a free consultation for an opportunity to ask us any questions. We’d love to chat!