Are you looking for graphic design packages for small business brands? Did you know that even small business owners with a limited budget can still establish a strong visual brand identity that will help differentiate themselves from their competitors and even a more established business? To do this, you must first gain an understanding of what brand assets including logo design, images, and other branding elements need to be established. You also need to know how to choose a visual identity for your new brand that will ultimately resonate with your audience.
Find out which design elements will help build you a strong brand identity that gives off a great first impression to your potential customers. We’ll also tell you a few tips on how to narrow down the visual identity that will work best for your new brand, and why it’s so important to maintain brand consistency across all of your marketing assets from brochure designs to website design.
If you’re still unsure why small businesses need to invest in graphics to achieve their business goals, read 5 Reasons To Use Graphic Design Services For Small Business Brands.
Graphic Design Elements Needed To Establish Your Visual Brand Identity
The brand identity is essentially a visual representation of your brand. This identity is established by your logo design, color palette, style, photos, and any other digital assets used in your company website and social media marketing channels. The brand identity is important to physical marketing collateral as well and informs your brochure and business card design. All future graphics-related design decisions you make will be based on the guidelines you set down regarding the following graphic design elements.
Logo Design
Logo design is important for any new business that is entering a market, or even existing businesses that may wish to create a fresh brand identity as they evolve. There are many ways to develop logo designs. There is the logotype approach which is also called ‘wordmark’ which includes mainly text in the logo design. This text usually includes the business name. Think about the Microsoft or Amazon logos.
On the other hand, there is the logomark or ‘icon’ approach where the logo design is an image or graphic with no text on it. A great example is the famous Apple logo. And of course, there are logo designs that fall in between with a mixture of graphics and text. It is also fine to create multiple versions of the logo. An icon can be used where a simpler design is needed like on product packaging while a full logo can be displayed on a business card.
Brand Color Palette
Small businesses often don’t spend enough time considering the colors they use throughout their branding assets. Colors can mean different things depending on the market you’re serving and can convey specific emotions as well. Bright and punchy colors will appeal to a different demographic than muted ones. And of course, colors that look great on your website or social media graphics may not look as good on a printed newspaper page or a poster. To learn more about how to make colors and graphics work on printed media, read The Benefits of Outsourcing Your Print Ad Design Services.
Typography
The design process should also include thought put into typography which is very important to branding. Typography includes both the font itself and how it is arranged when displayed to your audience. There are plenty of standard fonts which are free to use for small businesses. Of course, you could even have a customized one that makes your brand unique.
Original Artwork And Images
You can hire a designer to create original artwork that goes with your brand identity. You might also need top-quality photos if your business revolves around selling physical products or a location such as a restaurant, hotel, or similar venue. You need to make sure that other branding elements like logos are part of any original artwork or images you publish, and that the color scheme of these assets is consistent with the palette you have chosen for your brand.
Brand Guidelines
For customers to feel like your brand is relatable and approachable, it’s important to inject some personality into it. This attitude as well as your brand values can be conveyed through the mix of colors, logo design, typography, artwork, and images you decide to include in your branding assets.
Unless you’re planning to change your branding entirely, it’s important to stay consistent with all of these design elements. This means that the photography services as well as the artists and designers you hire need to be aware of the other graphic design elements used to establish your brand identity. For this purpose, brand guidelines can be set to which all future graphic design work needs to adhere.
Tips On How To Improve Your Brand Image
Before you start looking for a branding package that offers all the design services you need, there are a few things you need to consider about your brand, the audience it appeals to, and the competition you will face. There are also current trends in graphic design that are making waves online and on social media. Let’s see how these aspects can help you figure out what’s best for your brand, and what sort of things need to be included in your branding package for you to establish a distinct brand identity.
Identify Your Target Audience
Your business will provide products or services tailored to satisfy a specific type of customer. Whether it’s retirees that like to spend their free time on a golf course or a younger generation that like the thrill of adventure, it’s important to identify who these people are and what they like. From this, you can start to create a customer profile based on what demographic they’re from, how they’re using your products or services, and the type of things they value.
Using this information, you can try to narrow down the type of colors, typography, logo design, as well as artwork that appeals to this audience. Even your photos can be taken to include customers from this demographic which will go a long way to convey who your brand is for. This doesn’t mean that your brand will only appeal to these customers but that your branding can be optimized to better resonate with them.
Look At Competitors And Brands You Like
It might be difficult to figure out what sort of color scheme to adopt for your website design or the best typography that will appeal to your customers. To find some inspiration, you can take a look at what other businesses are doing for their marketing. Pay attention to competitors and what sort of personality they are using, especially if they are targeting the same audience as the one you’re focusing on.
And don’t forget to take a peek at established brands you like in your industry that you wish to aspire to. The design package they can invest in might be beyond the type of budget you can afford right now, but you could still learn from them to improve your branding. For example, you can design your logo in a way that seems tonally consistent with the kind of way customers in your industry have come to expect. You could also choose to go in a completely different direction to distinguish yourself.
Use Social Media
When taking inspiration from your competitors and more established brands, social media can be your best friend. You can see what pages and brands your customers are following. You can also see which posts have the most engagement from users liking, commenting, and sharing. The graphic design elements you need to incorporate into your brand will be visible on these posts.
Another thing you can do is study what a typical social media feed looks like to a user that follows these brands. The idea is to use the design elements to make your content blend into such a feed so that even your ads will look like posts shared by people they already know. This will make them more likely to interact with such a post.
Stay On-Trend
Graphic design is something that changes over time. Trends come and go out of fashion, so it’s important that your designer knows what’s popular right now, and not use something outdated. AI-generated artwork, experimental typography, stylistic color gradients, as well as vivid minimalistic designs are currently considered hip across many different industries. To learn more about these trends and find out which might deliver your brand results, read our post on 5 Graphic Design Trends in 2023.
Image taken from www.campaignsoftheworld.com
Stay Consistent With Your Brand Identity
Brand recognition is important and your audience will have a hard time recognizing your brand if you’re always changing your style or colors. They might also get confused if the color scheme or logo changes too drastically from social media to your website and other marketing materials. Consistency of your design elements should also apply to the products or services you’re providing. Then the trust your customers have in your brand will pass to your product line as well.
Use Online Free Tools For Graphics
If your business currently can’t afford a graphic design branding package, you can still utilize free online tools to get some basic graphics done by yourself. Canva for example has many templates for a logo design that you can customize with different colors, fonts, and various other elements to create something that fits your business. Hatchful can even generate a logo template based on your company name, the industry you work in, and the platform on which you wish to use the logo.
Use Professional Graphic Design Packages For Small Business Brands
Of course, none of these free online tools can match the level of artistry, design knowledge, and skill that a well-experienced graphic design team can provide you with. They understand the process, are familiar with the tools and will know what sort of designs will be a good fit for you. It’s always a worthwhile investment since your branding represents your business, and it’s important that it accurately reflects what you’re all about.
Looking For A Custom Branding Package?
If you’re looking for a branding package that will help you stand out from the crowd, and grab the attention of your potential customers, then you will need a professional branding and design services provider like SUJO Twenty-Two. We’ll start by learning about your company, doing market research, and helping you build the brand you’ve always wanted to be. We can handle everything from your logo design to taglines, and advertisements to merchandise that reflects your brand’s core values. To learn more, visit SUJO Twenty-Two today!
FAQs
A package should include all the basic elements that are important to establishing a strong brand identity including logo design, color scheme, typography, artwork, images, and setting down branding guidelines for future reference.
You can study your audience, competitors, brands you aspire to, social media posts, and trending designs to gain inspiration for establishing your brand identity. Afterward, it’s important to stay consistent with your branding and find a design services provider that understands what will work for your brand.
