Why Graphic Design Is Important and How to Use It

Good graphic design is an integral part of any successful business. Learn how it can impact your business and drive sales!

You might know that graphic design is essential for creating different visual elements, such as a logo, business cards, or marketing materials. But do you understand the effect it has on your overall business success?

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.  

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.

Images source: Smart Insights

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.

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.

The focus of a person is really short, so you need to strike with good 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

Graphic design plays a huge role in modern marketing trends, especially in digital marketing. A well-performing marketing plan leads to better sales, and the visual aspect of a campaign is especially important.

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 an 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!

Conclusion

As a business owner, you might consider a DIY approach or occasionally hiring a freelancer for bigger tasks, such as creating logos. But having consistency, aesthetic direction, and an effective designer team you can count on will bring you a thousand benefits.

The importance of graphic design is too great, so don’t risk losing the chance of reaching new customers and creating a memorable brand. In the end line, you also risk losing potential revenue.

If you need graphic design services at an affordable price, we can provide quality designs on a monthly subscription basis. For a fixed price, ManyPixels offers unlimited design. Check out how it works.