Remember the time when suddenly, some brand’s logo caught your eyes? You went like, “okay, that’s interesting. Let’s see what that is all about.” Yes, something on these lines has happened to all of us. It has made us sit up and take note of a brand, a new launch, or a new company in the market. So, how did the new venture made this possible? With just the power of clever designs!
For a small business looking to stand its ground amidst all the competitions and make its mark, good designs can mean the world. From making the brand memorable, communicating the products’ value, to making the customer interested, there’s so much that good designs can do for you.
Need more reasons to believe in the importance of designs for small businesses? Here’s bringing you nine good reasons that will definitely answer your questions.
- Good web design to make the website easy to use
A good design is all about the look and the functions of a website. To put it more precisely, it needs to look and work in a way that helps you convert your visitors into your customers. The netizens have the attention span shorter than a goldfish, and you have only a few seconds before they decide that you are just not worth their time.
In fact, a study by Microsoft Corp. has stated that the average human attention span has gone down by four seconds since the year 2000. So, at present, the human attention span is eight seconds, which is a second less than a goldfish!
So, you have eight seconds to entice your target audience with amazing designs and make them stay through a responsive website.
- Packaging designs to change customer perception
Ever seen a cooking show and watched how much thought the participants put into the presentation of the dishes? So much effort is given towards the presentation because the way a dish looks plays a huge part in how much it will be appreciated. The same principles apply to products, and that is why packaging design is so important.
Slight additions, changes, and tweaks to the packaging of the products change the way people react to them. That is the reason why marketing gurus pay so much attention to alter the colors and designs of the packaging.
- Designs to make your brand unforgettable
Designs are way more than only the outward appearance of a brand, product, or business. When it comes to brand design, the impact goes a lot deeper. Right from the choice of colors to the logo, a memorable brand is made through carefully and intentionally chosen design decisions.
When you think purely on a surface level, it is the design that matters and makes the brand memorable to the customers. A research carried out by The Malaysian Journal of Medical Science found that colors can lead to better memory performance, and are an important part of a brand’s design and identity.
- The designs you use for your mobile apps
With over a million apps already in the market, and more being launched every day, competition in the app market is crazy. You need your app to stand out by its design first, and then its user-friendliness. Before the user tests out the app, he checks how creative it looks and how different it is from the dozens of other apps out there.
It is also about the interaction design, which consists of user experience design and user-interface design. All these design elements aim to offer a seamless user experience and satisfying the needs of your customers.
- To make a great first impression
You walk through the supermarket, flip through a magazine, or research online, and you will find over a hundred brands staring at you in the face, looking to get your attention. So, which are the brands among these hundreds that ultimately get your attention? The answer is the brands that have the kind of designs, which make a strong first impression on you.
A study carried out by Dr. GitteLindgaard ET. Al. from Carleton University, Ottawa, stated that visual appeal could be created in fifty milliseconds. Thus, your designs have not more than those many seconds to create a lasting impression.
- Design is way more than what it seems
A very common misconception about designers and designs is that the former is only concerned about how the latter looks. But, this is farthest from the truth for small businesses as it is for the major enterprises. A designer is more interested in how a product works rather than how it looks.
For instance, when working with your letterhead, he will not just concentrate on making it look nice. He will consider what you stand for, your target audiences, and your brand’s message. Then he will decide what your letterhead should look like to communicate all that effectively.
- Nothing feels too hard to explain any more
There have been so many situations where bad design is too evident to people in the form of hard to read information, pixelated images, and the likes. People question: ‘what was the brand even thinking coming up with something like this?’ On the other hand, in a great design, people will notice how interesting the content is instead of directly noticing the design.
This proves the very common saying amongst the designers and marketers that good design is basically not visible. The basic idea behind it is that designs should not be noticed but rather experienced.
- Designs that make you stand out in the crowd
It is a very common consumer behavior to buy things just because they look nicer than the other option. Maybe the products have the same composition and same ingredients, and yet people end up choosing one over the other. It can be that interesting label on the soap or an intriguing cover on a book.
Yes, granted that a consumer would not shell out too many bucks for these slight differences. But, when the prices are the same or similar, they will go for the one with better designs. As a budding business, you wouldn’t want to miss out on making the most out of this opportunity, right?
- Designs help you appeal to the right market
Imagine you have a notebook made, especially for kids. You have adorned its design with an easy to use layout and larger lines. Your job is to signal parents that this is the product they should pick out from the line of options at the stationery aisle.
It might be written on the package that it is made for kids, but who reads that while browsing the aisles. Here, design becomes a tool of communication between the target market and the product. It conveys its usability, and thus, attracts the right people towards it. So, your customers will not just browse and move on, but rather pause and pick up that notebook.
Hopefully, after reading these nine reasons, you will not be second-guessing the value of good designs for your business anymore. From driving powerful marketing performances, giving you a competitive edge, to letting you stand out: good design does it all. So, when you spend on great designs, you are basically investing for the success of your business!
About the author
Haifa Aboobacker is a growth assistant at AirTract, a go-to place for all expert advice wherein people ask questions, write articles, share knowledge and experience. She is a communication engineering graduate but a digital marketing buff who is fascinated by the best SEO practices and content strategies. She loves to make friends and explore places, and she chooses reading in her time off.
