I’m a designer, and I love creating beautiful things. The only thing I love more is designing things that actually make money for my clients.
Marketing that produces results will rarely win awards and accolades in design competitions. Although this may sound unfortunate for me, thankfully I have no interest in winning design awards.
My definition of a winning design is one that brings attention to the marketing message, commands the reader’s attention, and delivers a response.
An effective design will not bring attention to itself. Who wants people “ooohing and ahhhing” at your clever design, only to walk away and never recall your message, your product, or your company?
However, this doesn’t mean that your marketing must be devoid of any aesthetics or visual appeal. In fact, countless studies prove how vulnerable our perceptions are to visual stimuli. In other words, the way something looks greatly influences our judgement of it and in many cases, how we experience it. (Check out my book, Five Ways Your Design Is Sabotaging the Sales of Your Products and Publications for a fascinating treatment on this subject).
When we talk about graphic design we’re not just referring to what color something is or how beautiful, balanced, organized it appears (which are all subjective anyway). We want to know the effect that design elements have on buyer perception, and how to influence those perceptions.
In any marketing, your message is the most important element. A great design can communicate your message in a great way. But, if your message is weak, then a great design is only going to make things worse by communicating a bad message really well.
Graphic Design with a Purpose
Our specialty at Zine Graphics is in creating designs that support effective marketing. All the aesthetics that surround that (your logo, your brand look, your style, your colors) are things that we intuitively create as we work on your marketing project.
We love helping our clients strategize, develop, and implement masterful and brilliant marketing campaigns. We “get it” and partner with you in that area. As professional designers, our artistic talents add harmony and aesthetic power to your ideas. It’s like watching an old silent movie. Add color and music and watch how your message reaches deeper into the senses and emotions of your audience.
If you don’t need marketing help, just need design (a logo or a business card), we’re glad to help you. Just take a moment to look through our gallery and see our design style.
Every designer (and small design firms) have a particular style. We want to make sure that you “like” our style. After years of creating logos and business cards, we find that we excel when we stay within our style. Sometimes, our style is not for you and that’s OK. Let’s find that out now before we both invest our time into working together.
Breathing life into your designs…
