Smartika Arts
You only have one chance to make a first impression. Whether it’s a website or the logo in an email signature, potential customers will judge a business in just a few seconds based on visual appeal alone. Good quality graphic design gives businesses credibility and that’s priceless. No matter how great a product or service is, with poor design, it’s unlikely anyone will stick around the company’s website or keep its email long enough to find out.
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Almost all businesses face competition and to set themselves apart they generally have differentiators like pricing, quality, customer service etc. But consider that good design can help a small business stand out too. A company’s visual communication plan serves many purposes, and making the business unique should be one of them.
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You know what they say: you only have one chance to make a first impression. Whether it’s a website or the logo in an email signature, potential customers will judge a business in just a few seconds based on visual appeal alone. Good quality graphic design gives businesses credibility and that’s priceless. No matter how great a product or service, with poor design, it’s unlikely anyone will stick around the company’s website or keep its email long enough to find out.
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When businesses don’t take graphic design seriously in the beginning, they will more than likely go through a design overhaul eventually and in some cases, more than once. However, quality design has longevity. Paying for great graphic design one time is no more expensive than paying for subpar design multiple times. Not to mention, redesigning a business’ image over and over wastes time and can be detrimental to its brand.
Design isn’t just about making things look pretty; effective design should entice and persuade. A well designed website can direct visitors to take action, like clicking a “buy” button for instance. A well designed catalogue compels readers to keep turning pages. Good quality graphic design has the potential to deliver measurable results for a business.
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It’s important that people get a feel for what a business does even if they’ve never heard of it before. Thoughtful design evokes the right image in customers’ minds.
Many freelance designers work from a home office and therefore, overhead costs are drastically lower than an agency which has extra overheads like staff salaries, office rent etc. These savings for the freelancer can get passed down to the client.
You’re probably going to receive top-notch customer service (depending on how many clients they have, of course). It’s a one-person shop, so you know you’ll always be dealing with the same person and won’t have to re-explain edits, ideas, etc. to a new person with every phone call.
Unlike design agencies who have set work hours, many freelancers will respond to evening and weekend emails. So if you find the 9 to 5 schedule for communication a bit restrictive, working with a freelancer may be for you. With that said, there should always be boundaries to communicate within reasonable hours.
Question and answer session with the client either in person, phone call, via whatsapp or email.
A design brief clarifies what needs to be done, keeps the project on track, and saves time for everyone involved.
Time is spent reviewing the brief and asking followup questions before beginning more thorough research and brainstorming.
Taken into account are a client’s competitors, market trends, product or service differentiators, the history and future of the business, the current brand, and brand aspirations.
Multiple pen and paper sketches are made for idea generation to help generate a strong set of possible directions.
Most sketches are made redundant, but the point is to explore as many directions as possible before narrowing it down to the strongest ideas.
The effective ideas are then developed in digital format. This stage involves transferring the options to Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and finally to a PDF for the presentation.
Designs are shown in context using digital mock-ups (i.e., in situations where the design will be used upon project completion — like a brochure, on a billboard, facebook advert, etc.).
Then it’s over to the client to consider the designs and prepare feedback based on how the ideas fulfill the brief.
This involves finalizing an option or making revisions until exactly the right direction is reached.
The aim is to create designs that work for the respective business. There’s always flexibility here rather than the need for an immediate “yes” or “no.”
The artwork is supplied via email and/or made available for download. Specific file type requests can be catered for.
Our service doesn’t end once a client pays the final installment. Should any design-related questions crop-up, we are on hand to provide an answer, or to offer assistance with design application.
