Did you know that 15% of small businesses have been up and running for over 25 years? If you’re hoping for that kind of longevity with your business, you’ll need a fresh and recognizable brand. And that effort to build your presence in the marketplace starts with quality visuals.

A standout website and memorable logo can go a long way toward improving visibility. But you don’t want just anyone designing your brand’s identity. Read on to learn about the twelve essentials of graphic design for small businesses!

1. Determine Your Brand’s Visual Identity

What does your business value? And what types of individuals does it target? These are the types of questions to ask as you start identifying who you are as a business.

Your answers to those questions also will inform your visual choices in a logo and brand identity. For instance, a business selling outdoor gear might gravitate toward stronger lines and earthy colors, while a tech company might prefer achromatic colors and minimalist shapes. An accounting firm might want clean lines while a catering company could prefer more elegant design motifs.

Sometimes it’s easier to unpack your identity with visually-minded individuals asking the questions. A reputable logo design company can help clients choose the right visual elements to describe their brand. They’ll be able to guide you toward design elements that communicate exactly what you stand for.

2. Choose the Right Colors

When it comes to branding, colors are central to your identity. The right colors set the tone for your business and create a memorable user experience. To assemble a harmonious grouping, consider:

• Contrast and harmony
• Color meaning
• Color schemes

Above all, choose a color palette that feels unified and balanced. Avoid using colors that have too much contrast, especially if your brand identity is more understated. At the same time, using too many neutral colors can make for a bland appearance.

Color schemes provide an easy way to select colors that work well together. An analogous color scheme offers a cohesive and balanced look since the colors sit next to each other on the color wheel. As another balanced option, go with a triadic color scheme, which selects colors that sit equidistant from each other on the color wheel.

Some colors carry a strong sense of meaning, too, that should be factored into your choices. Red can indicate love or a strong warning, while purple has royal connotations. Investigate cultural associations with potential colors before choosing them for your brand.

3. Look into Typefaces

While colors may command attention first, text does the talking. That’s why it’s critical to choose typefaces that reflect your brand’s style while communicating clearly.

Strong typefaces can convey a professional or playful tone, depending on your company’s goals. Typefaces also need to be clear while meshing well with surrounding colors and graphics.

Serif typefaces feature more ornamentation and create a classic or luxurious vibe. Sans-serif typefaces, by contrast, tend to look more contemporary. Your brand may align better with one type versus the other, or you may benefit from mixing different typefaces.

Don’t get carried away with typefaces, however. Choosing too many can make a website look cluttered or amateurish. When in doubt, keep your typefaces limited and always ensure they are readable.

4. Realize that Less Is More

You may be eager to communicate as much as possible about your business. But it’s important to resist the temptation to share too much information, especially in a small space.

Trying to cram as many text snippets or design elements into a webpage or logo can create a visual catastrophe that turns away viewers. Overstuffed poster designs or social media graphics can be overstimulating.

Instead, learn the value of limiting your design elements and content.Choose two or three colors for a logo design rather than four or five. And let flat areas of color provide some breathing room among more detailed passages in newsletters or blog posts.

You don’t have to share everything in one image or post. More focused designs can help readers gradually learn about what your company offers and give them a reason to learn more.

5. Use Visual Elements Cohesively

Whether you’re pursuing graphic design in Idaho or Alaska, visual cohesion is critical to your success as a business. In other words, you want visuals that are easy to read and attractive to see on a website or social media page. Create a visual hierarchy, which considers elements like color and texture, to guide your design choices.

Paying attention to how colors and text relate will yield stronger designs. Aim to:

• Stay away from using too many saturated colors
• Use scale to direct viewers’ attention
• Create enough contrast to help readability

Using bright red text against an intense green or patterned background, for instance, will create too much visual vibration for readers. Similarly, undersized or low-contrast text can make reading difficult.

Focus on combining visual elements, including color and line, to create harmonious designs that are easy on the eyes. Always get feedback on designs, too, before launching your site or brand.

6. Enhance Your Brand with Images

Websites can seem boring without well-chosen punches of imagery. In building your company’s brand, you’ll want to be mindful of how images can enhance other design elements.

Crisp photographs of your products, for instance, are a logical pairing with a blog post or landing page. For product images, stay consistent with backdrops or lighting schemes. Doing this will create greater visual cohesion.

As another example, childlike drawings on your homepage could be an ideal visual if you create children’s clothes. Consider collaborating with an illustrator for a consistent style that can span all aspects of your brand.

Just remember that you’ll have to strike a balance when weaving images into your brand’s content. You don’t want too many images, and you don’t want images that interfere with other forms of messaging.

7. Allow Some Breathing Room

The right approach to website design for businesses means knowing when to step back. Empty space can be a potent design element when you’re creating web pages or social media graphics. In the context of a website, allowing breathing room can mean:

• Including more white space
• Removing borders and other decorative elements
• Limiting fonts
• Using bullet points and smaller text segments

Even the most avid reader will get tired of reading a wall of text on a website. Similarly, busy graphics that try to do too much will just keep readers scrolling on social media platforms.

Breaking up text and including white spaces on websites prevents webpages from becoming overwhelming. And paring down anything from fonts to color schemes will keep your design tighter and more appealing.

8. Align Elements Across Platforms

Your business plan may include goals such as expanding your presence on social media. Or maybe you want to enhance your website or create direct mailings. Whatever the platform might be, know that your branding efforts must be consistent from one to the next.

If you’re using a sans-serif font and muted colors on your social media platforms, plan on doing the same everywhere else. If you’re using a logo on your website, use it on all documents and emails.

With branding, consistency is key. Keeping the same colors and aesthetic style in every aspect of your communication creates a more identifiable brand. Changing colors or other design elements creates confusion that may make it harder for readers to know who you are.

9. Optimize Your Graphic Design Efforts

You might be surprised to learn that roughly 72% of people access the web only through their smartphones. Consequently, you’ll need web pages and other branding elements to look good no matter what device someone is using.

Taking the time to focus on optimization is a key step in your design journey. Optimizing graphic design means:

• Reducing image sizes for faster loading times
• Adding alt text to images
• Formating webpages to fit different media

For websites that rely on images, load times can take a hit if the image sizes are very large. And slow load times can cause viewers to leave. Make sure to compress images to a size that doesn’t hurt image quality.

Likewise, if someone tries to view a webpage on a phone that’s not formatted for the screen size, they’ll leave. Not optimizing webpages for mobile viewing makes navigating more difficult, and text can be harder to read.

Investing in responsive design enables websites to adapt to different screen sizes. As a result, you’ll see a better user experience that keeps readers engaged with your site. You may even see improved search engine rankings.

10. Use Technology to Your Advantage

Building a website or design from scratch can be a time-consuming process. Fortunately, technology can speed up the process to help you create clean, elegant designs without chewing up as much time.

Using templates, for instance, allows you to plug in your brand’s details into existing designs that already look polished. You won’t have to edit photographs or choose colors since the work already will have been done for you. Best of all, many templates are user-friendly, meaning you won’t have to invest time in resizing social media graphics or text.

You can turn to stock photos or vector graphics, too, to piece together designs or spruce up a blog post. Just be sure that you’re adding a personal touch to any existing template or graphic that aligns with your brand. You don’t want to end up with generic designs that blend in with the competition.

11. Know the Latest Trends

Logo design trends don’t stay the same from one year to the next. And the last thing you want is for your logo to look dated and reflect poorly on your business. But if you’re complacent about checking the latest trends, your branding can look out of touch.

While you don’t need a redesign every year, it pays to know how preferences for visual elements change over time. Trends that shift may include:

• Use of typography styles
• Maximalism or minimalism
• How illustrations and graphics factor into designs
• A preference for gradients or flat shapes

If your design embraces maximalism when simplicity is in style, it may be worth making some branding changes. Or if you’re using simple abstract graphics on your website when hand-drawn illustrations are in favor, it could be time to enlist an illustrator.

You don’t have to conform to every trend shift. After all, you want your brand to be unique and what’s less popular one year could be in demand the next. But you do want to show awareness that visuals matter and your brand is willing to adapt.

12. Turn to Professional Designers

If crafting logos and websites isn’t your forte, it’s wise to let experts do the work for you. Attempting to cobble together a logo or DIY website can result in something that looks unprofessional. Plus maintaining a website and marketing plan requires ongoing efforts better left to the professionals.

The best graphic designers in Juneau Alaska will be able to help you craft a brand identity that connects with users.Better yet, working with a design firm will grant you access to a team of skilled professionals to bring your brand to life. A good design firm also knows how to:

• Create strong layouts on websites
• Integrate copywriting with visuals
• Tackle search engine optimization and marketing
• Handle coding and app design

A professional design team can manage a full-fledged marketing campaign or address smaller needs. Ultimately, they’ll work with you on time-sensitive projects so your business can shine.

Pursue the Best Brand Design Solutions

Good graphic design can elevate your brand and help you attract more business. Focus on using colors and other visual elements that support your goals as a brand. Perhaps most importantly, stay abreast of current design trends and let professionals help you pull together winning designs.

At Clear Mind Graphics, we bring over two decades of branding and project management expertise to our client interactions. Our seasoned team can help you create an identity package or digital marketing strategy that communicates your brand while building your business. Contact us today to learn more!