5 REASONS GOOD DESIGN IS GOOD BUSINESS

One basic principle of good design is form follows function. Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” Unfortunately, most businesses undervalue good design, or worse, think that it holds no value at all. To make our case, here are five reasons why good design, in this case, graphic design, is good business and why it should feature prominently in your marketing plan.
1. When Design is Strong, the Trust is even Stronger
We’re living in a time where just about every business has a digital presence of some form—with the business’ website often the first encounter many people have with a company. Now, more than ever, first impressions last, and the one your site makes have become more critical than ever.
A study referenced by Derek Halpern of Social Triggers, titled Trust and Mistrust of Online Health Sites, has determined that poorly designed websites are often not read, trusted or visited for any length of time. Of all the factors found to be a reason for rejecting or mistrusting a site, 94% were design related; only 6% were content related.
So, your content could be stellar, but a poor website design can bring it all to a crashing halt. But when the design is strong, it can result in even stronger consumer trust.
2. Keeps Things Fresh in the Mind
Have you ever discussed a brand and can’t remember the name but can remember some element of packaging or marketing material, or some sort of visual cue that we base our memories and experience on. Studies such as the one by The Malaysian Journal of Medical Science found that colour is a huge factor in what we remember and how vividly we remember it, “…colour has the potential to increase chances of environmental stimuli to be encoded, stored, and retrieved successfully.”
So even science has proven that design techniques such as selective use of colour can trigger the memory and keep your brand fresh in mind.
3. Makes your Content User-Friendly
With the rapidly growing and continuously changing world and technology, the content has to be simple and clear, while allowing for quick consumption and understanding. Good design is like a translation service that takes the complex ‘language’ of data, information, software capabilities etc. and converts it into an easily comprehensible format that many more people can understand. With good design, you’re able to keep your content simple and user-friendly.
4. Its More Than How It Looks
Good design is not merely about the aesthetics, it makes content look professional, consistent and enticing. Artist, Hans Hofmann, once said that good design is— “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” So good design goes beyond piecing together of typography, colours and images—it is a strategic composition that clearly communicates information, value, and reasons to care in a quick, eye-catching manner.
5. First Impression Last, Make a Good One!
Whether your company or brand is big or small, you need to figure out the key messages to relay to consumers when they first lay eyes on your business’ product, website, brand and create designs that reflect this. First impressions last and we can help you make a good one. Design@Bay has the knowledge, experience, skills and tools to create great designs work that effectively communicates your brand. Get access to excellent design skills and let us help you capture and project how good your company or brand truly is.