The Importance Of Good Design In Business

Running a company requires a lot of management – managing your people, supervising them so they remain efficient in their work, managing your finances, making sure that everything stays within budget, your operations, and everything involved in running the business, including the periodical filing of documents so you remain registered and legal. Perhaps, this is the reason why some entrepreneurs tend to overlook one simple but important element in a business, and that is, design.

We tend to neglect the importance of design. Often, we leave it to our marketing to come up with eye-catching posters and sharable gimmicks. Sometimes, we even leave the designing to part-timers and students because some of us believe that quality is still king in selling. If only that was true.

Here is an example: you are looking for an apartment to rent, and you are presented two ads. One of them has a big heading, a picture of the room on the right and the contact details below the poster, after a call to action “for rent,” while the other one has three pictures with different angles of the room. The facilities are listed below the neatly arranged photos, contact details are also provided, and on the back has a small sketch map on how to get to the place. With only the ads to base our decision, we are likely to think that it is safe to conclude which one might be potentially unregistered and will surely provide poor services, and which one will provide you the comfort and convenience you are looking for in an apartment.

1. Small design elements can make big a big difference in your company. Online infographics (those well-designed charts, graphs, and lists with flat colors) make it easier to make your point rather than complex and boring pieces of information, from statistics, to historical data. This shows how a good design can become powerful tool to sell even things that are hard to market. Infographics are appealing because the charts are neatly arranged, and the contents are concise, making it easier to read and digest whatever it wants to share. Imagine if your ads could do the same with your clients.

2. Colors affect people’s curiosity. Orange and red are said to be able to increase people’s appetite, while gray does the entire opposite. Imagine serving your customers food inside a full dull and gray restaurant. Just like how colors affect our interest, they also have a lot to do with how we perceive things. Check out a few banks that don the color blue. This is because studies have shown that the color blue indicates trust – something we want to have with the institution that promises to keep and grow our money. Green shows cleanliness, or being nature-friendly. Choosing a color is just as important as choosing what kind of values you want your business to portray. It transcends beyond mere color selection.

3. Choosing a model or brand ambassador affects your brand image greatly. The kind of lifestyle your ambassador has will also pull your company towards wherever he/she is heading. If the brand ambassador gets into street fights and public scandals, your business or product will start to look like it’s something just as undesirable. If your ambassador is always seen with an expensive lifestyle, using items only from premium brands, your company will also start to look classy and premium. Having him/her as your ambassador, is a part of your design.

4. Product and packaging design perceptibly also affects your chances of selling greatly. Tech companies are well aware of this. Ergonomics is one of the top priorities in producing gadgets. Imagine using a square mobile phone. One hand might not be enough to hold it, or the phone might be too small. In packaging, you can take kiosks that sell pastries. Some of them might taste the same, and almost are the same products as their competitors’. What sets the leading brand apart is the way they design their packaging. From a simple box, they could be providing gold embossed, or uniquely shaped cartons.

Design speaks a lot about a company’s effort, patience, and attention to details. Ads that are just completely cluttered speaks about how you may not be doing well in organizing your company while neatly designed ads show professionalism, and desire to provide quality. Take good care of design and your branding will follow through.

*Originally published by the Manila Bulletin, C-6, Sunday, July 3, 2016. Written by Ruben Anlacan, Jr. (President, BusinessCoach, Inc.) All rights reserved. May not be reproduced or copied without express written permission of the copyright holders.