I realised very early on in my career that to be better at design, you need to understand, to understand you need to listen and to that you need to question...everything!!
In the dance of today's business arena, it takes a shrewd eye and a steady hand to carve out a commanding presence. Design isn't just a splash of colour or a pretty font; it's the foundation upon which your business whispers its most profound tales to the world. It questions, it clarifies, and most importantly, it speaks volumes about who you are and what you stand for. We're going to take you on an expedition through the mosaic of design as we uncover how it meticulously dissects the core of your business values and goals.
Alignment Aesthetics: The Intersection of Design and Business Strategy
Before designs come to life, they seed in the fertile ground of alignment. Here, the bedrock of your business takes shape through a marriage of visual cues and strategic intent. A design that truly resonates doesn’t just occur by happenstance; it’s a meticulously crafted emblem of your overall business strategy. As you navigate the inception of your brand's look and feel, ponder deeply upon how each stroke of creativity reflects your company's mission and objectives.
In essence, design is the silent ambassador of your brand, silently yet profoundly communicating your ethos to your audience. It's essential to ensure that the visual representation of your business does not diverge from the strategic path you've chartered. This harmony between design and strategy lays the groundwork for a robust, authentic brand that stands the test of time and fluctuating market tides.
The Palette of Principles: Unearthing Your Business Foundation
Your business foundation is the palette from which your design should draw its colours. It’s comprised of your core values, the principles that you refuse to compromise on. When design begins to question these fundamentals, it’s not being cheeky – it’s ensuring that every gradient, every typeface, and every image resonates with the soul of your business.
A design that’s disjointed from your foundation is like a lighthouse without a light; it may have a structure, but it fails to guide. As such, an introspective dive into what your business stands for is paramount. When your values are clear, the design follows suit, seamlessly blending into the fabric of your business narrative, ensuring your audience receives a coherent and authentic experience.
Branding Brilliance: Crafting an Identity That Speaks Volumes
Branding is the art of storytelling, where design weaves the tale of your unique identity. It questions the mundane and turns it spectacular, ensuring that your brand not only stands out in a crowded marketplace but also resonates with your target demographic. A critical element of branding is consistency; it’s the repetitive pattern that creates familiarity, trust, and eventually loyalty.
From the logo that imprints itself in the minds of your customers to the typography that conveys your messages with precision, every aspect of design plays a pivotal role in branding. It’s a continuous dialogue between the business and its patrons, managed deftly through the vigilant application of design principles. Remember, in branding, every visual cue is a sentence in the story of your business. Keep it compelling.
The Marketing Maestro: Design as the Conductor of Campaigns
Oh, the sweet symphony of a well-orchestrated marketing campaign! Design steps up as the conductor, ensuring that every element plays in perfect harmony to captivate your audience. In marketing, design doesn't merely flirt with creativity; it commits to a relationship where every visual piece is optimised for impact and conversion.
Be it an awe-inspiring ad or a sleek email template, the design determines the emotional and aesthetic appeal of your marketing efforts. It's the bait that hooks the prospect and the charm that keeps them enchanted. For every campaign, ask yourself – does the design embody the campaign's spirit? If it does, you've got a winner.
The Sales Symphony: Design that Strikes the Right Chord
When it comes to sales, design acts as the bridge between desire and decision. It's the subtle nudge that encourages prospects to take the leap from 'Maybe' to 'Yes'. The design of your product packaging, website, and even your business cards contributes to the overall experience that can make or break a sale.
Consider the design as the unsung hero in the sales process; it sets the stage for the pitch and, when done right, it can amplify the effectiveness of your sales strategies. A compelling design can reduce friction, making the buying process more intuitive and enjoyable for the customer. Let design sing the praises of your products and services, and watch as the sales crescendo builds.
The Digital Tapestry: Weaving Design into the World Wide Web
In the digital realm, design becomes an even more critical player. Your website is often the first point of contact between your business and the world. It’s the digital handshake, the first impression, and it has to be a firm one. A well-designed website is a perfect mix of beauty and functionality, it questions the status quo and delivers a user experience that keeps people coming back.
Good web design extends beyond aesthetics – it’s about creating a user-centric platform where navigation is intuitive, content is accessible, and calls to action are clear. As your digital tapestry unfolds, ensure that each thread strengthens the overall user journey, leading them seamlessly from discovery to action.
Social Media Savvy: Charting the Course of Conversations
Diving into the social media pool without a design strategy is like navigating a ship without a compass. Design sets the course for your social media presence, steering conversations and engaging your audience. It's not just about pretty pictures; it's about crafting an image that embodies your brand voice and resonates with your followers.
The design is the captain of this ship, and it must be alert to the changing currents of social trends. Your social media designs are more than just visual content; they're the sails that catch the wind of engagement and propel your brand forward. Deploy them wisely.
The Power of Packaging: The Silent Salesman
Let us not underestimate the power of packaging design. It is, in many ways, the silent salesman on the shelves, whispering to potential buyers as they pass by. A product's packaging design is the embodiment of its brand promise, the tangible experience that a customer can touch, feel, and ultimately take home.
Exemplary packaging design not only encapsulates the essence of the product within but also appeals to the emotions of the consumer, influencing their buying decision. It's not just about containment; it's about presentation, persuasion, and the promise of a product that has found its perfect visual messenger.
Many will consider packaging as merely a box that you send to a customer. It's more than that. It's you, Branded clothing for instance, is a great way to ensure prospects know who you are. It's the van you use for deliveries. Answer this, when have you ever seen a plain, white van and wondered 'what are delivering?' Drive down the road and think about what you see, lots of vans with no branding, or worse a van a logo but no idea what they do. That van could be delivering something you want or need, you just don't know it.
The Futuristic Forge: Anticipating Tomorrow's Design Needs
Lastly, as you refine your brand’s design today, always keep an eye on the horizon. The realm of design is ever-evolving, and staying ahead of the curve is imperative. Anticipate the shifts in consumer behaviour and technological advancements that will shape the future of design...It will undoubtedly shape your business.
In conclusion, design is not the cherry on the cake but the very essence that permeates every layer of your business. It questions, it challenges, and ultimately, it aligns with your values and goals to create a cohesive, compelling, and engaging brand experience. Embrace it, and watch your business flourish under its thoughtful gaze.
So how does design question your business?
As a designer what you produce in terms of ideas, thoughts, colours, style, layout and content is based on the foundation that you understand the person, their business and/or their company to gain insights in how best to portray them. Simple questions like who is their closest rival, what are the core values of their company. By asking these questions it makes the client to ask themselves...Actually, as business what are our core values?, who are closest competitors?, in turn this defines them and pushes them forward. In my dealing with hundreds of clients over many years, so many businesses fail to know many facets of their own business, that's everyone from small to large business. Get these details right and you'll be on a sure footing for the future.
One of our London clients asked us to design and print triple layered business cards for their entire company. They specifically wanted a green inner layer. These are very thick business cards but are really attention grabbing as they stand out from others.
Contact us for a quote for your business cards...you'll be amazed at our prices compared to other local suppliers...really amazed.
We have successfully stored, picked and packed in excess of 500 products recently. Not only that, we have also preconfigured and setup a number of number of devices for the client so we can distribute to the purchasers. This involves installing a system (using Raspberry Pi), and configuring sensors, including significant numbers in a couple of orders.
Contact us to discuss your e-commerce and fulfilment project. Fill in our contact form or call us on 01295 236 366
The difference is not in the words you write. But in the way people read, which makes all the difference in the world.
When it comes to reading online, most people will not read what you write word-for-word. They will scan your post in search of what they are looking for. If you don’t satisfy their appetite—quickly—then they’ll move on.
For bloggers, this means that you cannot be like an abstract artist who splashes paint on a canvas in the hope of creating something compelling. There is an art and science to using words to communicate, engage, and persuade readers online.
What follows are nine tips to writing a blog post people will actually read. Use these principals as proverbial bumper pads for your writing to help you stay on course and hit your goal.
What’s the one big idea you want to make?
Make a conscious choice to cover your one big idea. Weave it throughout your entire post. Introduce it. Support it. Apply it. And then stop. writ
Fight the temptation to pursue rabbit trails. Instead, craft your post around one idea and delete whatever doesn’t support it.
What’s your one big idea?
Writing online is not like writing in your personal journal. You’re writing for a public audience, not yourself.
Focus your writing on your readers. Serve them with it. Answer their questions. Meet their needs. Help them do something.
Practically speaking, use second-person pronouns — e.g., you, your, and yours. This pivot in your writing will create a more personal touch with your readers
Who are you writing for?
When reading online, people expect to connect with the writer on a personal level.
Your readers want to get to know you. They want to understand what makes you tick.
Become known by your readers by making yourself known to them.
Be real.
Be yourself.
Allow your personality—for all of its warts and glory—shine through. Transparency is more important today than it ever has been.
Yes, your readers may be in search for technical answers. But this doesn’t mean you have to sound technical.
Use words and phrases your readers use him or herself. Write in such a way that your readers can easily understand what you’re saying. And by all means, banish jargon, acronyms, and assume nothing about your reader.
Are you being yourself?
Will Rogers famously said, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” This couldn’t be truer for writing online.
The way you create a good first impression online is by writing an attention-grabbing headline.
Your headline is the bait by which you lure in readers. Your headline will be read by 8 out of 10 people, while only 2 out of 10 people will read your post. If your headline does not catch your reader’s eyes or whet their appetite for more, then they will move on.
There are tricks you can learn to help you write one helluva seductive one-word headline. And there’s a seven-step experiment you can use to help you learn what it takes to write compelling headlines.
How compelling is your headline?
Question: What is the primary purpose of crafting a mind-blowing headline?
Answer: To get people to read your first sentence.
Your headline is a slide that leads your readers to read your first sentence.
And your first sentence leads people to read your second sentence (and so on and so forth).
Use your opening sentence to grab the interest of your reader and lure them down the slide of your post.
Here is one trick to help you write a great first sentence.
Does your first sentence grab reader’s attention?
People read online much like animals’ forage for food.
They are hungry and in search for something to eat.
Your job as a writer is to make your one big idea as easily accessible as possible. There are several ways you can do this:
Look to simplify your one big idea and cut off any potential rabbit trails.
Have you simplified your one big idea and cut off rabbit trails?
Focus on your readers by making your post easy to scan.
People normally read online in an F-shaped pattern. They scan the page horizontally from left-to-right and then they scan the left side of the page in a downward vertical movement.
Here’s a visual illustration to show you what I mean:
Help your readers by accommodating to their reading habits. Here are some easy ways how:
Is your post scannable?
Link to relevant pages and posts within the post you’re writing.
Adding internal links will provide your site (or the site you’re writing for) with three valuable benefits:
Now, this doesn’t mean you want to turn your entire post into a series of disconnected internal links. But you do want to write meaningful links that entice readers.
Did you include internal links?
You cannot leave your writing flying in the air.
Land it at the end and provide closure for your audience:
Before you end your post, make sure your reader knows what you want them to do.
Does your post have a clear call to action?
Some people can get away with ignoring these tips for writing a blog post. But this group of people is the exception; not the rule.
Before you can establish yourself as an authority or reach people with your message, you have to put in the hard work. For bloggers, this not only means writing (a lot). But investing time studying the art and science of writing for the web.
Instead of modeling yourself after the unicorns in the field, learn what skills make a great web writer. Apply the lessons you learn. See what resonates with your readers. Observe what drives results.
In short: Be a lifelong learner.
The nine tips I shared above only scratch the surface of what there is to learn. And, quite frankly, these are skills I’m continually striving to improve upon.
The post 9 Tips on Writing a Blog Post People Will Actually Read appeared first on Copybot.
