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5 Design tips that will set your small business apart from the rest
Today’s world we are bombarded by images and visual platforms and you don’t want to be left behind with poor design.
Print media, although still important has been taken over by social media and websites. It is during this time that design for your small business matters more than it ever did, especially when it comes to entrepreneurs, small businesses and start-up. Good design is not optional, you need to stand out from the competition. Here are some great design tips that you need to have in mind when looking to build a brand that will grow your business.
Brand Identity by Design
The way you design certain things plays a powerful role in the way customers perceive your brand. Choosing your colour pallet and font style are two important design elements that will help shape the mood, feeling and tone your brand voice and identity communicates.
Colour: The colours that you choose for any design does more than provide differentiation and recognition, it has the immense power to influence moods, feelings, attitudes and even behaviour. Although there are differing opinions as to what each person takes away from the colours, there are, however, basic behavourial patterns that are worth considering when you are choosing the colours for your design. Great rule of thumb to go by is to choose two to four colours to include in your design.- Font: We spoke about fonts before when it comes to designing your website, and even when it comes to flyers, posts and other images for your website – it is equally if not more important. All designs should include no more than 3 fonts: Heading, Subtitle and Body. It is also important to establish how and where certain fonts will be used. You should always ask your self this question when you are choosing fonts for a design: Does this font style enhance the message, and does it address the needs of the platform it will be posted on?
Choose your words carefully
Most people think design is only about images and colours, but there are many differences in the way that written content is processed on the various social media channels. For instance, LinkedIn is a very professional platform – the content you post on LinkedIn is not the same content you would post on Facebook and Twitter. Another point to consider is that users on Instagram are more visual, Facebook users enjoy engaging content, while Twitter users enjoy sweet, straight and to the point tweets to keep them informed during the day.
Design for the Platform you are using
You may be using more than one of the five leading social media platforms to help boost your business. These five big players (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SnapChat and Pinterest) all have a different feel, look and function for your company. Would it not then make sense to design specific images for each platform? Don’t think that just because they are all social media platforms, a one-size-fits-all approach will necessary work. For instance, the size of the image you post to Facebook will look pixelated and blurry on Twitter or Instagram, or part of your design will be cut off and the viewers will not be able to see important information. To keep yourself up-to-date here is a cheat sheet that is constantly updated and will keep you in the loop, click here to bookmark your own cheat sheet.
Design plays such an integral role in the identity of your small business and great design should ALWAYS be a priority – once you follow these small design tips they will still be become second nature and you will soon be on your way to be creating a strong, cohesive brand that will get you and your business noticed. We hope these design tips help you with your business.
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