Whether you’re the owner or the Director of a business, it’s natural that your main concerns will be that of budget. 

Money-saving is one of those subjects that will be at the forefront of your mind, and sometimes even keep you up at night.

But when it comes to graphic design, is the DIY approach really the best way to cut corners? Is it possible that you can do your own branding in-house, and get the best results possible?

There are a great many online tools which allow you to create things from logos to websites – but if you want your branding to look professional, then gaining the expertise of a graphic designer can save you a lot of time and money, and give you a product that delivers much more than just a pretty design.

Read on to learn more about why hiring a graphic designer can give you better results than doing it yourself.

Visual representation

As humans, we are naturally drawn to visual stimuli. When we look at a webpage or a social feed, the first thing we seek out is an attractive image. We’re drawn to colour, shape, and movement – we don’t read text first, but instead, look at the images on the page.

So if the images we see are not attractive to us, our brains simply ignore it. We scroll on.

A graphic designer will have spent years learning how our brains respond to these visual stimuli. We know a lot about how images and colours appeal to a person’s senses – and more than that, we can hone in on the type of person you want to attract to your business.

Good design isn’t just about looking pretty; it’s about grabbing attention on an emotional level. And that takes a lot of practice.

The DIY Trap

There are many tools that can be purchased to create graphics, and apps like Canva offer you a way of making images and graphics which can easily be adapted for your branding. These tools are attractive in that they give a huge number of ready-to-go templates, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, it’s so easy to get it wrong. 

Chances are that in order to save money, you’ve allocated a member of your staff to create these graphics. But the danger is that by giving them this additional task, you are taking them away from the role they are employed to do. This can be counterproductive, because they won’t be doing either task well.

Experience is everything

By employing a professional graphic designer, you are not simply getting a design; you are investing in years of experience and skills. An experienced designer will take the time to go that extra mile and find out about your company, your customers and the goal of your design.

They’ll automatically know where to place content for maximum effect and what colours/fonts and imagery is best to use.

A skilled designer will also take the time to read your text and advise of alternative ways to display the information that you may not have thought of.

Although it can be tempting to take the cheaper option, sometimes it’s worth investing extra to get a higher return.