First Impressions

First Impressions matter! 

Within the first 7 seconds of meeting you, people have a solid impression of who you are. It only takes us 1/10th of a second to determine traits like trustworthiness in others. With our minds determining our opinions so quickly it is important that we do our best to contribute to a positive reaction. As a business owner you most likely have a lot going on so that you might not have the time, patience, design skill to build a cohesive and attractive visual brand.
Remember the best brands stand for something: big idea, strategic position, defined set of values and has a voice that stands apart. A brand is not what you say it is. It is what THEY say it is.

You have various options on how to go about branding your business. You want your brand to be the face of your business and not just look good.

Take in consideration the three: time, cost, and quality. I was always told you can only choose two, as in if you want quality and speed then the cost will be high, if you want speed and low cost then the quality will be low. If you want low cost and quality then it will take time.

You can use online resources to do the branding yourself. Chances are that you do not have the background to come up with balanced layouts, high quality prints, correct contrast, etc. If you want to take this route there are stock images, illustrations, icons, fonts, stock videos, graphic design tools, mockup tools, image editing tools and design inspirations available for your use online. Unless you have experience this will cost you “only” time and the monetary cost will be at a minimum.

There are also paid online resources available. Sites such as fiverr, upwork, and topal are places you can go to seek inexpensive help. Keep in mind that often the resources you will get are “reused” from other sites. My experience with fiverr for instance had to do with icons. I hired a “designer” to help me with icon design. I sent him written communication of what I wanted the icons to look like. He turned around and delivered the icons very quickly. I realized that he had simply downloaded the images from another site and sold them as his own work. This can end up being a costly mistake.

Often other inexpensive sites, for logo creation for instance, will only provide you with a low resolution png of your logo. You are not able to increase the size without it pixelating. You will have to hire someone to redraw the logo – who knows how effective the logo was to start with and now you have to hire someone.

Another option is to  hire an intern – check out the graphic design department and see if there is a student that might want to help you out. They want to build their portfolio with real life projects. You might be able to help each other out.

Hire a freelance designer. This can be great as they do not have the overhead that the Design Firm has but they have experience and can create everything you need at a lower cost.

The other options are hiring a smaller studio or a design firm. Look around, ask your business friends if they have someone they can recommend. Whatever you do. Check out the work!