You may be satisfied with your company’s visual branding but uncertain about its true effectiveness, or perhaps you’re considering an investment in your visual identity. In either case, understanding whether your branding is making a meaningful impact on your business is crucial.

Graphic design is an ever-evolving field that continually adapts to new technologies, aesthetics, and cultural shifts. As we move into 2024, we anticipate some exciting trends that will shape the visual landscape. From innovative techniques to thematic choices, the world of graphic design is set to be vibrant and dynamic. In this blog, we'll explore the graphic design trends we're likely to see in 2024.

In today's digital age, where screens dominate our lives, it's natural to wonder whether traditional print media is still a viable option for promoting your business. The rise of digital marketing, social media, and online advertising has led many to question the relevance and effectiveness of print materials. In this blog post, we'll dive into the debate over whether print is dead or if it remains a valuable tool for promoting your business.

Readability and legibility are two terms that are often used interchangeably, but they actually refer to different aspects of written communication.

Readability refers to how easy or difficult a piece of text is to understand or comprehend. It takes into account factors such as sentence structure, vocabulary, and organisation of ideas. A text with high readability is one that is clear, concise, and easy to follow. Readability is often measured using formulas like the Flesch-Kincaid Readability Score, which considers factors like the number of syllables per word and the length of sentences to assign a reading level to a piece of text.

Legibility, on the other hand, refers to how easy or difficult it is to physically read the text. It takes into account factors such as font choice, font size, spacing, and contrast between the text and the background. A text with high legibility is one that is easy on the eyes, and can be read comfortably for extended periods of time without causing eye strain or fatigue.

An intuitive and enjoyable user experience, and the development of the navigation structure need to underpin the development of any new website. An effective website design should begin with a wireframe that only takes into consideration navigation and the usability of any process at the heart of a user goal. Once the structure is set then the user experience is developed with visuals. This second step is often referred to as UI or user interface. The combination of both are what gives users a satisfied feeling when using your website. This then needs to be adjusted and developed in line with user feedback to ensure your website is performing at it’s most effective and maximising it’s benefits to your business.

How do you know that investing in design is good for business?

This is a pretty broad question, design covers a huge and varied number of ways in which you can invest in your business. In this article we will be looking at general trends comparing businesses that invest in design against those who do not. The fastest growing, most successful companies in the world invest heavily in design, and these are the companies most able to measure that return on investment, so why do they consider it to be worth it? We look at the stats behind design investment and explain why and how investing in good design can pay for itself.

Your brand is more than just the logo, it’s the accumulation of all the elements of your business from customer service, or the interior design of your premises right through to the website and even your tone of voice when communicating with your audience. All these elements combine to differentiate you from others in the market. Getting the brand right can lead to real tangible benefits to your business. It’s not something that should be forced. If your brand aligns with who you are as a business and the values you hold, then it should all flow naturally. A good brand should remain consistent and relate to your audience on a meaningful level.

Graphic design has a function and ultimately solves problems. Design usually works within a commercial framework where its role is to encourage people to buy products, heed warnings or change opinions. Design can be beautiful and visually pleasing, but there is often science behind achieving the outcome. All designers strive to make visually appealing work, but this must be based on objective decisions and sound reasoning. Form follows function.

What can you do to make your website accessible and why is it important for business? When we design websites we make decisions to ensure the website is not only visually appealing, but also accessible to as wide a range of users as possible. These are some of the considerations that guide our website design process, but might well include valuable insight that helps you update your current website with some simple, straightforward changes.

Stylescapes can be extremely useful during the design process. They ensure that client and designer are on the same page with regards to what the end result should be by filtering ideas. They are great for clarification too. One persons idea of sophisticated or modern could be very different to somebody else’s. This stage of the process allows both parties to narrow the focus with a visual aid rather than just those generic terms. By spending the time adding this extra step at the beginning of a branding project, it saves time, revisions and disparity of expectations further along the line.

How do you define and target the right customers? Getting your target audience right and appealing to them through your brand is key. Logo design is only one part of your brand, and the whole package needs to align with the wants and needs of your target audience in order to grow a customer base in an effective way. Try to appeal to everybody, and you’ll end up attracting nobody.

What makes a good logo? Logo design is more than just making a visually appealing mark. A logo needs to be simple, memorable, clear and appeal to the right target audience. A logo can’t just be fashionable either, it needs to be timeless.

How do we reach the end goal when designing brands and logos? The end product can look simple and easy, in fact, it should. But reaching that conclusion does involve more work than you might think. This is our logo design process and what works for us when branding companies.

What is white space and how do we use it in graphic design? White space can affect style, visual hierarchy and guide a reader to the most important messaging. White space can be just as important as the content.

These are some of our favourite design resources and tools that we use almost every day. From images and fonts through to icons and 3D animation. Plus, they are all absolutely free!

Handy hints on fonts and typefaces. Typographic heirarchy, how many fonts to use and how to design a page of content that people will actually read.

Getting your colour palette right is vital to communicate the appropriate look and feel for your brand. A children’s entertainer would look pretty dull if the logo was brown and black, and would you hire a solicitor with neon green and pink stationery? No matter how effective your logo design is, a brand can lose its appeal and won’t communicate to the right audience if the colours aren’t suitable for your audience and how you want to be portrayed.

Caring for your brand. When we design your new logo and you have a lovely new brand, we want it to stay that way. We offer brand guidelines to use as a rulebook to follow for yourself and any graphic design you produce as your business grows.

How can we help your business? We are experts in graphic design of all kinds, from branding and logo design, through to website design and print.

Before even starting to brand your company, there are a number of factors we need to take into consideration. From your target audience through to how we keep the brand consistent going forward.