The visual elements of your business, including your logo, associated graphics, website and printed collateral materials send very strong messages about your brand. While you can overestimate and overcome this impact you can and should understand it and take steps to align it with your core marketing message and ideal client.

Professional designers can be a great aid in this process, but only if you can help guide them. A professional designer may have a firm grasp on the creative elements of strong design, but it’s up to you help them understand how to use these elements to reflect the image you have for your business. It’s a paticipation sport.

Like so many aspects of your business you don’t have to know how to create good design for your business, but you do need to know how to spot it and how to buy it. Depending upon the business you are in, a decision to call you up or engage your services may be made solely on the on the consumption of some component of your marketing materials – I’d say that makes them important.

One of the ways to become a better consumer of good design is to actually study it a bit. It’s very helpful to expose yourself to good design, used in various ways, in order to bring good design into your business. There are many ways to do this, but my simple solution is to pick up the design annual editions of HOW and create magazines. These publications mostly cater to the professional design community and won’t be found at every corner magazine rack but seek them out and get a very rich introduction to great design for about $25. They also have fairly vibrant online communities.

OK creatives lurking out there reading this blog, got any other good resources for design?

If you liked this post, check out our Ultimate Guide to Small Business Marketing Strategy.