In today’s competitive world businesses and brands that place emphasis on design are going to have an advantage. According to the Design Management Institute’s Design Value Index, design-driven companies have maintained a significant stock-market advantage, outperforming the S&P 500 by a whopping 219% over a ten year period. The New Design Frontier report by Invision found that organizations who have invested in and focused on design, experience improved product usability, increased customer satisfaction, and financial gain.

Despite overwhelming evidence supporting the benefits of design, many businesses neglect it’s importance throughout their organization. A key point to take away from this article is that design culture doesn’t happen on it’s own; it needs to be intentionally initiated, regularly cared for, and continually implemented. Below are a few strategies to help foster a design centric organization.

Truly understanding the customer

Good design means nothing if not tailored properly towards it’s intended audience. This is where many companies face problems; focussing solely on understanding what customers want, and not why they want it. The solution lies in learning how and why people use and experience a company’s products or services. This can be achieved through workshops, focus groups, beta releases, usability testing, etc; all while focusing on what customers say, do and feel. What they “say” in focus groups or more anonymous online forums, what they do when using a product or visiting a website, and how they feel when experiencing a product.

Knowledge taken away from this research can then be used towards improving customer empathy/advocacy, product design & development, advertising, messaging and so on. This approach is how companies like Walmart increased their website traffic by 200% with a redesign of their e-commerce store, and Bank of America increased their online account registrations by 45% after a UI revamp. This empathetic approach is crucial to enabling stronger customer relationships, enhancing brand loyalty, and honing design efforts.

Enabling designer leadership

The days where designers were seen as an afterthought within an organization are a thing of the past. An organization that seeks to develop and progress needs to enable designer leadership, allow their participation in executive decision making, and ensure designers play an essential role throughout entire company projects. A prime example of a designer playing a key role within a company is the great Tony Ive. Not only was Tony Apple’s product designer, he was Steve Jobs right hand man throughout the company’s most innovative period; having created the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad together. “He’s not just a designer… that’s why he works directly for me. He has more operational power than anyone else at Apple except me.” Jobs once stated.

Building your team from talented individuals

To adapt to a culture of design thinking and transform the mindsets of workers within an organization, it requires patience, effort, strategy, and know-how. According to the teachings of IED Barcelona’s new master degree course in interaction design, talented individuals who possess both technical and empathic skills, coupled with the capability of critical thinking driven by curiosity and experimentation, are the ones who should be at the core of the organization. They are the digital leaders of tomorrow who can overcome disciplinary and cultural boundaries, and design solutions that address individual and business needs.

Promoting knowledge sharing

For a team of any kind to be successful, its philosophy and methods of operation require the full cooperation of it’s members. A team that lacks camaraderie and communication will suffer from disconnect. The best way to overcome any substantial differences amongst team members and departments is to encourage collaboration. Rather than keeping each department (design, marketing, development, etc) separated, instead create an interactive environment that promotes knowledge sharing, debate and flow of ideas. To persuade group interaction and relationship building, consider required meetings and after-work gatherings.

Creating an environment suitable for design growth

Just as collaboration between staff is important, establishing a less rigid, more comfortable and inspirational work environment can enhance productivity and creativity. This is especially true for designers who require time reserved for inspiration, brainstorming and deliberation. While this concept of allowing more flexibility and time away from immediate tasks may seem counter productive, more and more experts and CEO’s are finding that allowing creativity actually leads to productivity.

Consider also, the growing body of research which supports the benefits of permitting workers more breaks during a work day, more time off, and fun in the work place. As this NYT article describes, not only does this approach improve employee satisfaction, loyalty and health, it has shown to increase productivity. And according to behavior scientist Nir Eyal, work breaks can reduce mental fatigue, improve brain function and increase creativity. So to get the most out of a design team (and an entire workforce), consider a more relaxed work environment. Not only will employees be happier, more refreshed, and less likely to seek employment elsewhere, they’ll be more prepared to develop great ideas and provide solutions to lingering problems.

Facilitating and encouraging innovation

To attract and keep the best design talent, it’s important to provide an environment that doesn’t stifle a designer’s creative and problem solving tendencies. While there will always be monotonous and mundane work assignments, a certain amount of time and resources should be allocated towards reflection and innovation. Not only will designers welcome the challenge of working on something fresh and potentially ground breaking, it will boost their moral and sense of pride and accomplishment, it will encourage inventiveness. Most of the world’s top brands allocate billions in revenue towards research and development because they know that without new ideas and innovation, there is stagnation and limited growth.

Introduction: With the coronavirus craziness millions of people around the world have been effected financially, including many designers and those in the creative fields. Just as civilians are doing their part to help out their fellow humans, a variety of companies have been offering their products for free or at reduced cost. I’ve compiled the following list of deals and financial assistance programs with graphic designers, freelancers, creatives, and small business owners in mind.

Please note: As you may already be aware, some services will begin charging after a free trial period has run it’s course. So if you have a credit card or other payment source on file, make sure to cancel your account prior to the trial ending (if you wish to avoid being charged). With that said, multi-month trial periods can be a great way to try out a new service for free or at reduced cost. Also, for services or products that have provided deadlines to their deals, I’ve tried to include the end dates.

DESIGN

Adobe (Various Deals): If you’ve avoided Adobe because of their subscription platform, now might be a good time to take advantage of some their recent free extended trials. Adobe first issued 2 free months of creative cloud service to users. Initially it appeared this deal was only for new users and students, though many existing account holders have confirmed they were able to receive the 2 free months as well. Here’s a mention from Adobe on their current cost leniencies and free service deals. More on this can be found on PetaPixel. I suggest reading through the comments section for additional insights from current CC users who were able to receive the deal.

Update: The following are also free up until May 31st 2020: Adobe Talent (on Behance), Adobe Portfolio, all PDF services. Other services are being offered as well, including Adobe Summit; a collection of educational videos and seminars from industry leaders in marketing, business and design. Here’s a full list of the Adobe deals being offered. Surprisingly Adobe has yet to offer any overall discounts for existing Creative Cloud members; which is a shame considering the company’s record profits the past couple of years, and the current financial struggles of many in the creative industries.

Affinity Suite (3 Free Months): Serif (the company behind the award winning “Affinity” design software) is offering a 90 day free trial of their entire suite of products. These include:”Affinity Photo”, “Affinity Designer” and “Affinity Publisher”. And for those who’d prefer to purchase and own their apps, you can take advantage of a generous 50% off discount. These free trials may be extended out further, depending on how things play out.

Affinity Photo is an image editing app used by both designers and photographers. Consider it an alternative to Photoshop. Affinity Designer is both a vector and raster based app that some describe as a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator. And Affinity Publisher offers similar capabilities to InDesign. The apps are available for Mac, PC, and iPad, with the exception of Publisher (which is currently only available for Mac and PC). If you’ve been eye balling the Affinity Suite for some time like I have, or are looking for an alternative to the Adobe subscription based model, now is a great time to take advantage of these great deals. Get y0ur free 90 day trial or 50% Affinity Suite Deal here.

Dribbble Pro (3 Months Free): Dribbble (online portfolio and job finding platform) is offering users 3 free months to upgrade to a pro account, and free access to the freelance project board. These upgrades will allow non pro account holders access to potential design jobs. Create or upgrade your Dribbble Pro account here, and access the freelance project board here.

iThemes (30% Off): If you’re unfamiliar with iThemes, they are best known for their website backup and security plugins “BackupBuddy” and “iThemes Security Pro”. I use both for all of my WordPress and client sites and find them to be some of the best available. If you’re in need of a backup or security solution, iThemes is offering all of their products at 30% off here.

Logo Package Express (25% Discount): This plugin (which just released an improved version 2) is a game changer for logo designers and has become one of my personal favorite tools. Logo Package Express allows you to create dozens of organized and labeled web and print logo files in various formats in just 5-10 minutes. It sure beats tediously creating numerous files one by one, and eliminates the hassle of maintaining consistent file naming. You can even use this plugin to offer logo packaging as an extra service. If you’re a logo designer, I highly recommend you take advantage of this 25% off sale (currently set for April, though may be extended). Purchase Logo Package Express here, or check out my overview here.

Mockups by Anthony Boyd (Dozens Free): I came across a collection of very nice free mockups that are higher quality than most mockups costing $30 or more. And even better, there are a boat load of them (I stopped counting at 100). It’s pretty amazing that these are offered all at no cost, considering the time invested. If you’re unaware of what a mockup is, it’s an editable document that allows you to display your logos, artwork, etc as if they were printed on actual items. They’re a great way for designers to showcase their portfolio and for brands to present their identity in a polished manner. This collection of free mockups includes everything from business cards and stationery, wall art, watches, computers, and much more. Check out the free mockups here.

Sticker Mule ($10 Credit): I’ve ordered stickers from a variety of online print shops over the years, and found Sticker Mule to be the best online printer and sticker maker​ (their products don’t wear down quickly like others). If you’re printing stickers for your clients or need a good sticker company to recommend or purchase from, I don’t think you can go wrong. Sticker Mule is also a very generous company, who use their Twitter account in genius fashion by by offering frequent giveaways instead of spending their marketing budget all on ads. How many other sticker brands have 155k+ Twitter followers? For their branding skills alone I’d recommend following them. Get $10 off your purchase with this Sticker Mule discount.

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

Adobe Residence Fund: While this isn’t a financial support fund per say, it’s more of an opportunity for select creatives to pursue personal projects with the financial backing from Adobe. They’ve set aside $1 million and will be giving away $500 to $5000 to chosen creatives who’s projects Adobe feels are deserving of backing. You can learn more about this fund here. Considering Adobe’s record profits in recent years, it would be nice if they considered providing discounts for all current Creative Cloud subscribers, rather than only new members. Especially since many in the design and creative industries are hurting financially from a lack of work.

Covid-19 No Pay Back Govt Loan ($10k): The US Federal Government has made a stimulus package available which offers independent freelancers and small businesses a SBA loan advance of up to $10,000 that does not need to be repaid. If you fit into one of these categories and are in need of assistance, you can learn more and apply here. There are mentions that payments are provided in as quick as 3 days, while others say it can take weeks. My guess is weeks or months considering the rollout of the other relief funds has been very slow. Here’s an interview with an accountant explaining the basics of the no-pay-back loan.

Facebook Small Business Grants: Facebook is offering $100 million in grant funds to assist small businesses experiencing financial hardship due to covid-19. Applicants must meet the following criteria: have between 2 to 50 employees, have been in business for at least one year, have been financially effected by coronavirus, and reside near where Facebook operates. Unfortunately these restrictions (especially the location requirement) rule out most business owners. You can check eligibility and availability of this Facebook small business grant program here.

Format (Photographer Funding): Format (a DIY website building service) is providing a relief fund for photographers who are experiencing financial difficulties during these tough times. If you’re a photographer in need of assistance, you can learn more about the Format relief fund here. Applicants can receive up to $500. If you’re interested in website creation, here’s a free 14 day trial.

Freelance Financial Assistance: Freelancers Union has started a “Freelancers Relief Fund” for freelancers experiencing financial hardship due to Covid-19. This is a donation based effort intended to help out those with expenses not covered by government relief programs. These funds are to assist with things such as food stamps and supplies, utility payments, and cash assistance to cover income loss. If you’re a freelancer in need, you may be able to receive up to $1,000 if you qualify. Learn more about this freelance relief fund here. 100% of the donations will be distributed directly to freelancers.

List Of Various Financial Assistance Resources: FinImpact.com has compiled an extensive list of financial assistance programs from the government, SBA, and more, along with descriptions of each. Consider bookmarking the page for updates. On a side note, Diigo is a very useful free bookmarking tool which runs as an extension on your computer or phone’s internet browser. Unlike folder based bookmarking, it allows you to add tags to web pages for more efficient searching.

LEARNING

100 Business Courses (Free): An extensive collection of free business courses covering a wide range of topics including: branding development, entrepreneurship, marketing, accounting, leadership, communication, and much more. View the free business courses here.

Design Course (Free): This lengthy course titled “Design: the creation of artifacts in society” is intended to make you a better designer. It marries theory and practice, and lays out the fundamental concepts of design in society. Weekly challenges test your ability to apply design ideas to solve real problems. The course is deliberately broad – spanning all domains of design, including architecture, graphics, services, apparel, engineered goods, and products. Learn more about this free design course here.

Dozens Of Creative Courses (Free): “Open Culture” is a great resource for free courses, ebooks, movies and more. I found a collection of 13 free courses pertaining to art, design and photography. These include: introduction courses on visual design, calligraphy and hand writing, digital photography, art history, abstract art and more. It appears some of these courses require you to create a user account, though they are all free. Learn more about these free creative courses here.

Drawing Course (Free): “The Elements of Drawing” is a video course offered by Oxford which covers the fundamentals of drawing; from choosing the right pencil and paper to unleashing your creativity. Access this free drawing course here.

Flash Photography Course (Free): Jared Polin of Fro Knows Photo is offering his “Guide to flash photography” and “Guide to getting out of auto” video courses for free via a “pay what you want” option. These courses typically sell for between $60 and $100. And on top of that, in the next 30 days he’s also giving away a camera or lenses valued at $3,500. Enter to win the free camera / lenses here. Note: you do have to provide your email address for these items, which might be a deterrent, though you can always opt out afterwards.

iThemes Freelance Resources (Free): If you’re unfamiliar with iThemes, they are best known for their website backup and security plugins “BackupBuddy” and “iThemes Security Pro”. They also provide some quality educational materials, which they are now offering at no cost. Check out the extensive collection of freelance related resources (includes training videos, ebooks, etc).

iThemes Training (Free 30 Day Trial): iThemes is also offering a free 30 day trial of their “iThemes Training” (a course pertaining to learning WordPress, taught by top experts).

LinkedIn Courses (Free): Around 18 free video courses relating to business, working remotely, time management, etc. While not specific to “design”, many of my readers are freelancers who might find these helpful. More on these free courses here.

Marketing Course (Free): This no cost online class from Wharton University is taught by three of their top faculty in the marketing department, consistently ranked as the #1 marketing department in the world. This course covers three core topics in customer loyalty: branding, customer centricity, and practical, go-to-market strategies. Check out this free marketing course here.

Nikon Photography Courses (Free): Nikon is offering their entire “Nikon School” online video course collection for free during the month of April 2020. These courses taught by professional photographers typically cost between $15 to $50 each. The provided videos include topics such as: the fundamentals of photography, macro and landscape shooting, the art of making music videos, and environmental portraiture. Access the free Nikon photography video courses here.

Photography Course (Free): This extensive course originally offered at Harvard University explores the artistic aspects, scientific foundations, and techniques of digital photography. It appears to include both pdf documentation as well as video tutorials. Check it this free photography course here.

Photography Life Courses (Free): Now is a good time to learn photography. In additional to numerous other free courses (listed above), Photography Life just released their collection of premium photography courses (normally $150 per course) for free on Youtube. The tutorials range from entry level to experienced professional. View the free photography courses here.

UTILITIES

Arcadia Power (Financial Assistance): Arcadia Power is a tech company that provides clean energy worldwide. If you’re already a customer and are experiencing financial hardship with your energy bills, Arcadia is offering financial assistance to those in need. If you’re not a customer and would like to see if the service is available in your area, you can find out here and save $25 off your membership. I became a customer last year and the only difference is my energy bill now goes through Arcadia. To date, this service and it’s participating members have contributed to the equivalent of 243, 768 cars being taken off of the road. While this isn’t a service that’s specific to designers or freelancers, it’s a good way to save a few $ while making our planet a bit cleaner in the process.

Comcast Internet (2 Months Free): For those who are experiencing financial hardship, live in areas where Comcast internet is provided, and are able to qualify, take advantage of this free basic internet service offer. Comcast is also apparently giving existing customers unlimited data usage for the next 2 months and will not disconnect service or charge late fees for those who are unable to make payment. And if you’re unable to acquire in-home internet access, Comcast is providing their Xfinity Wi-Fi at no cost to non subscribers. Learn more about Comcast free internet here.

BUSINESS

G-Suite Enterprise (3 Months Free): If you’re an existing G-Suite user, Google is offering free access to their advanced Hangouts Meet video-conferencing capabilities, which typically are only available via the “Enterprise Edition” of G-Suite. Features include: larger meetings (250 participants per call), live streaming (up to 100k viewers), and the ability to record meetings and save them to Google Drive. If you’re an internet marketer, these free tools may come in handy. Learn more about this G Suite deal here.

Microsoft Teams (6 Months Free): This tech juggernaut is offering their “Teams” software free to everyone for 6 months. Teams is a tool which allows workers and teams to communicate electronically, and includes a chat based system, video conferencing and file sharing abilities. Learn more about this Microsoft Teams deal here.

Namecheap (Drastic Discounts): Namecheap is one of the more well known places to purchase and host domains. They also provide website hosting, email and vpn services. All of which are currently on sale (.com domains 33% off, .info domains 81% off, .store domains 96% off, web hosting up to 70% off, vpn 65% off, private email 65% off, and more). If you’re in the market for any of these services, now might be a good time to make your move. View the Namecheap discounts here.

PandaDoc (Free): This company specializes in digital document signing, proposal creation and payment processing. And during this pandemic they released a free plan that appears to be quite generous, allowing users free unlimited e-signatures and document uploads with no limit on users either. Considering most digital signing services charge hundreds a year, this seems like a damn good deal. I’ve been using EverSign for my digital signing needs, though I may just let that expire knowing I can save the $120 or whatever I’m spending currently. If you’re a designer and are still requiring your clients to sign and scan project agreements, why not give this a try? See and compare the PandaDoc free plan here.

QuickBooks (50% Off): For the past couple of years I’ve been using QuickBooks Self Employed paired with TurboTax. It’s been a great combo to get more organized with my finances and drastically reduce the time required when it comes tax time. And on top of that there’s an included Intuit invoicing service that comes with QuickBooks. While the invoicing is very rudimentary, it allows no fee bank transfer payments. Note: some users complain about these transfers taking up to a week to process, so if you need your money quickly this form of invoicing might not be the best option for you. If you’re self employed and looking for a better way to keep your finances organized and save money, I recommend TurboTax paired with QuickBooks. You can save 50% off of QuickBooks Self Employed here.

Siteground Hosting (Discount): After nearly a decade of hosting my websites through Hostgator, I finally had enough and switched over to Siteground a few years ago. Gone were the frequent website down issues and having to deal with technical support every other week. While I certainly pay more through Siteground, it’s well worth the peace of mind, improved site speed and not having my website go down constantly because of poorly run shared servers. If you’re a website owner or web developer, I highly recommend Siteground for your website hosting. They are currently offering 3 months of hosting (startup plan only) for just 99 cents.

MISCELLANEOUS

1Password (6 Months Free): Whether you’re a designer or not, maintaining password security is important. 1Password is a password management service that is removing it’s typical 30 day trial period for business plans, and extending it to 6 months. Learn more about this 1Password free service here.

Bill.com (3 Months Free): This company is a leading provider of cloud-based software that simplifies, digitizes, and automates back-office financial processes for small and mid-sized businesses. Their mission is to make it simple to connect and do business with paper free transaction processing. Learn more or get your 3 free months of Bill.com here.

Box (3 Months Free): I personally use BackBlaze for computer backup and Dropbox for file sharing and backup, but unfortunately neither company is providing any deals to the general public. “Box” is similar in ways though, as they offer file storage, sharing, collaboration, and more. And they’re currently offering 90 free days of their Business service. Learn more about the Box deal here.

Final Cut Pro X (3 Months Free): Apple has followed in the steps of other companies by offering their professional grade video editing software “Final Cut Pro X” free for 90 days. And it appears they will be providing their professional audio software “Logic Pro X” for 90 days as well, though that deal has yet to go live at the time of this writing. Get your free 90 day Final Cut Pro trial here.

FujiFilm Contest ($3,000 Prize): If you’re a college student, FujiFilm is offering $3k in Fuji gear to the winner of their “Students of Storytelling” competition. Interested participants must submit an idea that is “designed to tell a cohesive “story” of a human or life-related experience, event, challenge, objective, relationship, approach, passion, and/or interest that may be depicted and effectively communicated through photographic images or video. I’m not much of a fan for spec-work style contests that require people to submit their time and effort with only a chance of winning, but for those who don’t mind and want the chance to win some great gear, you can learn more about the Students of Storytelling contest here.

Kindle Unlimited (3 Months Free): For non existing Kindle service subscribers, Amazon is offering 2 months of their Kindle Unlimited service at no cost. This includes digital books, audio books and magazines. A good opportunity to learn something new. This sale ends on June 30th, 2020.

Mailchimp (3 Months Free): This email marketing giant already provides free services to those with less than 2,000 newsletter subscribers, though if you have a larger subscriber list (but still under 10k), take advantage of Mailchimp’s free standard plan through June 30th, 2020. Learn more about the Mailchimp deal here.

Paypal Account Leniencies: Paypal is offering some leniencies with it’s service until April 30th, including immediate Paypal to bank money transfers (normally costs extra) so you can receive your funds quicker, a waiving of chargeback fees (when a customer files a dispute), an extension to the time you have to respond to customer disputes (now 20 days), a doubling of cash rewards for your Paypal Mastercard, etc. Learn more about these Paypal leniencies here.

Peloton Fitness App (Free): This company mostly known for it’s exercise equipment also has a fitness app, which they are providing free of charge for the next 90 days. If you’re the type who has a tough time motivating yourself to work out (especially being stuck indoors), see if this free fitness app can help.

RawPixel (680,000 Free Stock Images/Graphics): One of my favorite resources for stock content is rawpixel. Not only do they provide an extensive collection of vintage graphics and vectors, they also have some of the best frame mockups available. While some of their higher quality content (ornate frame mockups, etc) require the purchase of a premium subscription, many of their items are completely free. Normally the free downloads are limited to 5 a day, though as a way to give back during this lockdown rawpixel has lifted the 5 a day restriction and is offering unlimited access to their entire free image collection. This includes over 680,000 stock photos, vectors, graphics, mockups, backgrounds, templates and more. Create your rawpixel account and start downloading. While you’re there check out the frame mockups in their premium section.

Sigma Photo Contest (Thousands in Giveaways): Lens and camera maker Sigma has launched a shoot at home photography contest where they’ll be rewarding winners thousands in prize money and gear. The contest is for photographers and videographers who reside in the U.S. and are 18 years of age or older. Winners will be selected on a weekly and monthly basis all the way up until June 22nd 2020. A grand prize winner will also be announced on July 3rd. Learn more about the Sigma photo contest here.

Zencastr Podcast Service (Free): This company allows users to create their own podcast, and is lifting limitations on their “hobbyist” plan, allowing users to take advantage of unlimited guests and unlimited recording. Want to start a podcast on design, freelance, business, etc? Now’s a good time. More on this podcast service deal here.

Hopefully some of you find these deals and financial assistance mentions helpful.

As the old saying goes, “you have to spend money to make money”. Brand development should be no exception. Yet far too many businesses view design and their visual messaging as an afterthought, failing to invest adequate resources into these areas of their company. This attempt however of trying to save money up front ultimately ends up being much more costly in the long run. Especially when businesses invest in diverse marketing strategies without first establishing a strong brand identity; and then wonder why these efforts prove ineffective. This “cart before the horse” approach can result in wasted resources from required revamps, confusing messaging, and potential loss of customers.

Design is a crucial inextricable part of any brand identity and to the growth of a company. Though not all businesses are eager to allocate funds towards their design needs. If you fall into this category and aren’t quite convinced of the power of design, we’ve compiled a list of a few key reasons why investing in high quality design is a must for your business’s brand development and customer attraction.

Building a timeless presence

Design is a strong component of any strong brand. And it’s not only about visual appeal. Your design needs to mesh well with your brand message, should be memorable, consistent, and timeless as possible. One of the cornerstones of any brand identity is the logo. These little graphics are ambassadors and identifiers for a brand. Some logos are revamped every few years, while other remain mostly unchanged for decades (or even centuries, in the case of Coca Cola).

The memorable logos which prove to be timeless and provide longevity tend to be free of cliche and trendy elements, are typically simpler in style, and allow flexibility for a brand’s growth. Logos that don’t stand the test of time are typically more trendy, overly literal (can pigeonhole a brand as it grows), or just poorly designed. Many startups opt for cheap design early on, yet require an overhaul as the business grows and requires a more professional aesthetic.

Want proof on the effectiveness of a strong logo and how it can become etched into the minds of its viewers? Show a 5 year old a few well recognized logos and see how many they can accurately identify. Or simply try to think of a big brand such as Nike or McDonalds without their logo coming to mind. The point is, quality timeless design can provide years of value for your brand; and in the case of a logo, decades or more if you invest in quality design that won’t become obsolete in a short time and may only require subtle tweaks to remain current.

Brands such as Target are a perfect example of how using a clear-cut approach with their logo and brand identity allows them to maintain longevity with minimal changes to their core design elements. Their investing in design and establishing a solidified identity allows them to avoid frequent costly and time consuming revamps.

While this section focusses primarily on logo design, know that these concepts apply throughout all of your branding. Focus on creating a timeless brand presence, but don’t mistake this structured approach as being anti-innovation or anti-change. The point is to develop your core identity and not deviate too far from it.

Cross-channel brand consistency

Quality design is one of the best ways a business can maintain brand recognition and consistency with it’s customers, wherever and whenever interactions occur. Whether you’re posting flyers, handing out business cards, or sharing an eBook; use these opportunities to remain consistent in your design and messaging, and to build recognition with your potential customers. Just make sure the rest of your branding (dialog, spokespersons, advertisements, social media, mission statements, taglines, social media, etc) remain in unison with your visual identity.

Leaving a strong first impression

Yes, people do judge the book by its cover, hence the need to think of your logo, color palette, fonts, and other design elements as your brand “cover”. As visual creatures, we’re drawn to symmetry, beauty, and specific forms and color combinations, so use this to your advantage.

When choosing a logo for your business, remember that it is the visual representation of your brand, and often the very first impression you will make on a customer. What emotions do you want to evoke? What story do you want to tell? How do you want to be remembered? This not only applies to your logo, but also your print materials, copy, advertisements, signage, and overall messaging. And as mentioned in the section above, it’s important to establish a uniformity and consistency when it comes to all brand identifiers.

Visuals build trust

Instant recognition is a perk of its own, but it also creates an avalanche of additional benefits to allow your business grow and prosper. One particular “side-effect” of better brand recognition is inspiring trust in your target demographic. When people can instantly recognize your brand in all applications, be it social media, a website featuring your brand, or an advertisement; over time this consistency will help you establish trust and brand loyalty with your existing customers, and allow you to more easily attract new ones.

If you maintain a consistent and quality brand identity through your messaging and design efforts, your customers will associate these positive experiences with your brand. As a result, they’ll more easily establish trust and will be more inclined to purchase your products or services and share their experience with others.

Closing thoughts

There’s no doubt that investing in design is essential, especially in the earlier stages of a business’s growth. This is why the worlds largest brands dedicate tens of millions of dollars towards design and developing their brand identities. The approach you choose to take can make the difference between loyal customers willing to invest in your brand, or wasted resources, customer dissatisfaction and misunderstandings.

While your business may provide the best products or services around, if your branding doesn’t match this level of quality you’re likely to turn off a large portion of your potential customer base. Make sure that your brand identity adequately represents your business’s purpose and core values, remains uniform and consistent, and isn’t viewed as an afterthought. If you follow the strategies in this article, the only regret you should have is why you didn’t implement them sooner. Thanks for reading and best of luck with your branding endeavors.

If you’re in need of brand design services, consider the owner of this website (Derek Kimball), who has over 13 years of experience in brand identity development.

You know that feeling when you discover something so great you want to share it with everyone you know? Well, for me that time is now. I recently came across a new design tool that I think many of my fellow designers will appreciate as much as I do. It’s called “Logo Package Express”… an Illustrator plugin that takes the monotony and frustration out of logo file preparation. Save 25% off here.

Logo Package Express allows designers to create an organized set of logo files in as quickly as 2 minutes (seriously). No more having to monotonously prepare dozens of print and web logo files one at a time. No more having to tediously name each file and folder manually. The plugin does it all for you, quickly and easily.

The Benefits:

• Save time by creating logo packages 10x faster (200 logo files in under 5 minutes).
• Minimize frustration by avoiding the tedious file creation and naming process.
• Increase revenue by offering logo packages as an extra service.
• Eliminate human error (forgetting to include certain files, inconsistent naming, etc).
• Offer a more extensive and organized collection of logo files to your clients.

Here’s How It Works:

The first step is to open your vector logo in Adobe Illustrator and run the plugin. You’ll then be instructed to select your logo, upon which the plugin will quickly analyze things. Once the analyzing is complete you’ll be presented with a window (as shown in the preview below) allowing you to select the different logo components you’re wanting files created for (ex: logo mark, logotype, tagline).

Select your logo, logo mark, logotype, tagline

The next step is to create your files. Simply click “Create Print Logos” and wait a few seconds for the plugin to prepare your logo sets on screen. Once prepared you will be given a chance to remove or edit any of the logo sets visible on your artboard. To remove any unwanted sets, you just select and delete them.

A view of the print logo sets. Here you’d delete any of the logo styles that you’re not wanting before export.

When you’re satisfied with the previewed logo sets, click the “Export Print Logos” button. You’ll then name the project (enter in the business / project name) and select the path to which you’d like your print files to be saved. I recommend creating a new folder on your desktop and inside of it two additional folders titled “Print Logo Files” and “Web Logo Files” (as shown in preview below). Now back in Illustrator you’d choose the “Print Logo Files” folder as your “Export Print Logos” destination path and click “Export Print Logos”.

Here you can see I created a main folder with the project name, and inside of it I created 2 additional folders (one for print files and one for web files).

Now you let the plugin do it’s magic. In around 30 seconds or so (give or take depending on complexity of the logo) your files will be saved, labeled and organized into the folder you designated. When the process is complete you’ll see a Congratulations screen.

Here’s an expanded view of the various folders that the plugin created, sorted and named.

Here’s a preview showing the actual logo files in various formats.

If you require web logo files, the process would be the same. Simply click “Export Web Logos” and repeat the same steps from above. The only difference being, you’d save your files to the “Web Logo Files” folder.

Here’s a preview of the web logo folders and files in various formats. Cool huh?

Note: Selecting the gear icon in the upper right corner of the plugin presents you with settings options. Here you can choose which file types are prepared and exported, the size and resolution of the raster files, the threshold of the inverted logo files, etc. Detailed instructions explaining these settings and how to use the plugin are provided on the Logo Package website.

You can configure your desired settings here.

Summary: If you frequent my blog or social accounts, you know I rarely promote services or products. And when I do, it’s only items I’ve personally used and vouch for. I don’t say this lightly, but Logo Package Express is one of the best design tools I’ve used in ages. Not only does it save me countless work hours, it eliminates the dreadful process of having to create and prepare client logo files one at a time. And when I had questions, Michael (the creator) answered them thoroughly and promptly.

While there are a couple things I wish the plugin provided that are currently not available (ex: add padding around logos, custom file naming), these are by no means a deal breaker, and are features that will be added in future updates. Luckily there are workarounds for now via the following video tutorials: add spacing around logos, and batch renaming.

Considering the time saved and headaches avoided, this plugin is a no brainer in my opinion. Especially for the price. If you’re a logo designer (or even a business owner wanting to expand your company’s logo file arsenal), I can’t recommend Logo Package Express enough. Once you use it you’ll wish something like this was created years ago.

Dribble has released results from it’s 2020 “Global Design Survey” which provides data from over 17,000 polled design professionals. The survey explores designer salaries, career trends, and various other findings. I’ve detailed below some notable mentions from the survey:

• 62% of global respondents are employed in house or through an agency.
• 16% of global respondents are self employed.
• 48% of global respondents have a bachelor degree, and 20% have some college experience.
• 38% of global respondents make less than $20,000 U.S., with 50% being from Europe or Asia.
• 10% of respondents from the U.S. make less than $20,000.
• 22% of respondents from the U.S. make between $50,000 and $75,000 (largest % group).
• 42% of global respondents claimed to be mostly self taught, 29% school taught, and 16% learned on the job.
• California, Washington state and New York have the highest % of $100,000+ salary earners in the U.S.
• Florida, Ohio and Michigan were the lowest paid states amongst respondents in the U.S.
• In a job satisfaction ranking of 1 to 10 (10 being satisfied), the global average was 6.7, and 6.9 with U.S. designers.
• Graphic designers, product designers and UX designers being shown as the most in demand titles.
• Nearly half of all freelance designers mentioned their last freelance opportunity was through direct contact.

You can view the full results and download a copy of Dribble’s survey here.

Host an Open Day 

Hosting a company open day is an opportunity to show people what your business offers. Many companies host annual open days to introduce their products or services to new potential customers. These events allow business owners the opportunity to speak directly to potential clients, show people around the workplace, give a short presentation of what the company has to offer, and provide potential clients/customers with branded items. Open days are also a great way for changed ownership businesses to bring back lost customers. For example, lets say you’ve taken over an already established restaurant that had a bad reputation for bad food and poor service. Advertise an open day with free or discounted food samples, allowing locals who had written the establishment off to see for themselves the improvements you’ve made.

You can plan an open day by sourcing people on Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, local business groups such as the Chamber of Commerce, Meetup groups, etc. Make sure that you provide a clear overview of what the open day is all about, dates and times, and a brief description of the itinerary of the day. Give people a reason to come, other than supporting your business (free food, entertainment, giveaways, etc).

Design a Giveaway Promotion 

Another effective marketing method is to design a promotion campaign where you offer giveaways or provide discounts on your products or services. Holidays are an ideal time to implement this strategy. Promotional campaigns can be a great way to get people to engage with your company online through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, and can be an excellent method to boost your brand awareness. 

Create an Advert to Showcase in Cinemas 

TV and Youtube are popular platforms for advertisements, but this isn’t always the most ideal way to get people to watch your ads. Usually people skip, block or ignore YouTube advertisements, and often take a commercial break when they appear on TV. Another way to reach a relatively large amount of people, but more effectively, is to advertise on the cinema screen. While you may not be reaching quite as many viewers as with TV marketing, your ad is less likely to be ignored and the upfront costs will be less.

Urban Marketing Strategy 

While virtual marketing is the go-to advertising method today, old school marketing techniques (a.k.a. gorilla marketing) should not be ignored. Not only can this approach be more cost efficient, it can be just as effective as virtual marketing and great for local customer acquisition. Options include: handing out flyers, hiring a plane to fly a banner, signage spinners, and billboard advertisements. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box and get creative with your advertising.

Become a Sponsor

Corporate sponsorship is a form of advertising in which companies pay to be associated with certain events or people who need funding. Company branding is displayed during events or on products to raise brand awareness. Consider sponsoring a local sports team, a race car driver, a new building, or charity event.

Don’t Forget The Marketing Basics

While the above are less common approaches to business marketing and client acquisition, don’t forget to incorporate the basics of brand development. This includes hiring a good graphic designer to create a unique logo for your company, a quality website to act as a hub for all of your content, and all of the promotional items you need to distinguish your brand from the rest (ex: business cards, brochures, social media imagery, signage, and so on). Marketing videos, digital banner ads, and e-newsletters can also be effective ways to promote your business.  

And lets not forget the power of social media and the massive user bases on these platforms. Many big-time brands such as Coca-Cola use social media to spread their message and visibility. Their adverts allow online engagement and an increase in brand recognition. Explore these platforms and find which work best for your business/brand. Generally Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube are most effective for sharing of visual content, while Facebook and Twitter are best for providing real time promotions and business offerings.

Final Thoughts – Boost Your Brand

You may be offering the best quality and services, but none of this matters if you’re not reaching your intended customer base. It’s never too late to plan an effective marketing strategy. The above tips should help in your efforts. 

Are you thinking about going into design? Graphic design work is rewarding and allows those with creativity an outlet to do what they love. However, as with any industry, there are positives and negatives to graphic design work.

Of the around 266,300 graphic designers in the United States alone, many are employed in specialty areas, and around 20 percent self-employed. It’s a highly competitive industry, yet one that most businesses still need.

If you’re just getting started as a graphic designer, here are 14 things you should know before joining the industry.

1. Plan to Budget

The average graphic designer earns $40,733 per year. Of course, the pay varies based on niche areas and the city where you work. While you can survive at the beginning salary of a graphic designer, it isn’t one of the highest salaries in the industry.

If your passion is graphic design, you have a few options. First, add skills and knowledge that attract higher pay, such as UX design and creating motion graphics. Some designers take on freelance work on the side to pull in a bit more money and keep connections with businesses in the area. This allows you to be the first to learn about jobs with higher paying companies, too.

2. Create a Portfolio

One of the first things new graphic designers need is a professional portfolio that highlights their best work. If your portfolio is sparse, you may need to do a bit of pro bono work for charities or business owners you know. Your portfolio needs a mix of different types of design — the only way employers will know what you’re capable of is by viewing your previous work, so plan different types of projects.

3. Learn How to Use Interactive Graphics

Schools may teach basic design skills, but there are situations where you’ll need to take a step back and look at the design as a whole. One of these areas is designing for stores and office spaces. You’ll need to look at the entire space and create an experience for the consumer through experiential graphics.

Interactive graphics pull people into the experience, keep them in a store and make the atmosphere memorable. Large-scale experience design requires looking at the space through a different lens. However, there are also smaller design projects, such as floor graphics and directional signs, which add to the overall atmosphere in a building. 

4. Add Color Later

One tip veteran designers share with new designers is creating logos and other elements in black and white first. Sketch out your idea on paper and scan it into the computer. Color should come later in the design. By creating the logo in black and white at first, you see the bones of the design and are better able to fix any minor errors before they become major errors.

Another benefit of starting with black and white design is that you can easily shift the colors to something different should the original color palette fail.

5. Choose a Niche

You might be tempted to bounce all over the place with your design work. After all, surely an employer wants someone who can do any type of work. However, in the world of design, specializing in an area allows you to fill a gap a company has for a specific type of designer. An established brand or marketing agency likely already has staff with certain abilities. Your role is filling any gaps with your own niche skills.

6. Understand the Audience

Any time you create a design, you must understand the purpose behind the design and how the audience might react to it. Spend time getting to know the target audience of the company for which you’re designing. What drives the people who will see your design, and is your creation geared toward engaging them on both an emotional and visual level?

7. Study Design History

Spend time studying the history of design, so you can learn from past successes and failures. In any type of art, trends repeat. Art deco reappears from time to time, and other retro looks have made a comeback in certain years, too. You’ll also find inspiration as you study designs of the past.

8. Improve Your Writing

As a graphic designer, you’ll have to create copy at times, such as a tagline or wording for an infographic. Spend time brushing up on your copywriting skills, so the words included in your creations are tight and engaging. Learn about which action verbs have the most impact on readers. Study the power of the call to action (CTA) button and learn how best to personalize the experience for users.

9. Find a Mentor

When you first start in graphic design, you’ll deal with everything from demanding clients to software issues. It’s vital you have a mentor who has been through the beginning days of design work and knows how to navigate the waters of the corporate world. Look for one of the leaders in the design department once you land your first job, or talk to a professor about where you can find a mentor.

10. Learn the Rules, But…

You should certainly spend time learning all the rules of graphic design. Understand basics such as the Rule of Thirds and how to best utilize negative space. However, don’t be scared to throw the rules out and try something completely different. Understanding the rules allows you to break them and come up with cutting-edge designs no one else tried before.

11. Learn Patience

No matter how hard you study, you won’t learn everything you need to know in a few weeks. Design skills develop slowly, and usually after multiple mistakes. Learn to have patience with yourself. In fact, you may find your mistakes are what help you learn the most as a new designer.

Give yourself a bit of grace and ask for feedback, so you continue growth even after you’ve been on the job for a while.

12. Keep Learning

No matter how long someone is in a job, there are still new techniques worth mastering. Go to design conferences, take online classes and ask for input from your boss about how to improve.

As technology advances, new design techniques emerge, such as using virtual reality (VR) in advertising. Keep learning as new technologies come out and figure out ways of tapping into trends with your designs.

13. Create Balance in Your Life

One thing you’ll learn early in your design career is that almost every client has an emergency project that needs to be done yesterday. Set realistic goals along the project path and communicate with your client or superiors if there isn’t enough time for completing a project.

Every person needs time for reducing stress and creating a work and life balance. If you let work take over all your free time, then you’ll burn out and begin to despise your job. Instead, set aside certain hours for work and certain hours for family and other activities. Guard your free time as much as possible.

Of course, there are situations that truly are emergencies, and putting in a bit of extra time satisfies the client and shows you care. It’s okay to be flexible with your schedule, as long as you don’t make a habit out of working 70-hour weeks.

14. Develop Listening Skills

One of the biggest parts of designing is learning to listen to what others want. Of course, you also need some interpretation skills, delivering what the client wants, but also making it relatable to the audience and current design trends. Practice talking less and listening more, and watch how much better your clients respond to your designs.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

There’s an old saying about working smarter and not harder, which can apply to any job. In design, figuring out time management skills and learning productivity hacks goes a long way toward getting more done. Stay on top of trends and learn from those with more experience, and you’ll find success and fulfillment as a graphic designer.