Design makes me Mad!

How bad design can hurt your business.

Cut me up while I’m driving and I probably won’t toot at you. Recline your plane seat while I’m eating and I probably won’t say anything. Play gangster rap next door at 3am on a school night and I probably won’t knock on your door. But expect me to use something that’s badly designed and you’ll make me mad as hell.

“Design is just making things pretty”
Let’s start with the basics. Just what is design? I’ll tell you what it’s not. Design is not about making things pretty. It’s not an afterthought. It’s not changing a typeface or adding some clip art. It’s not adding gold edges or a flowery pattern. It’s not something you do at the end of the process to “finish it off”.

Design is fundamental. Design is the difference between love and hate. Design is the difference between “buy” and “goodbye”. Design is the difference between total success and absolute failure. Design should be part of every decision you make. Design should be the very first thing you think about and the very last thing you stop caring about.

Good versus bad
Good design can inspire. Bad design can humiliate. Good design can communicate. Bad design can confuse. Good design can differentiate you. Bad design can make you invisible.

Everything you do.
I. Mean. Everything.
Every time a customer ‘touches’ your business, you give them an impression. Jan Carlzon, ex-president of SAS Airlines calls these “Moments of Truth”. He defines them as “any event in which the customer comes into contact with any aspect of the organisation and gets an impression of the organisation’s service.”

Your design is a moment of truth. Your leaflets give customers an impression of whether they can trust you. Your window displays give an impression of whether your business is faded and floundering. Your website gives an impression of whether you’re here-today-gone-tomorrow or around for the long haul. Your logo and letterheads give an impression of whether your business is modern or out of touch.

That’s why it’s essential that design is considered at every moment of truth or customer ‘touch point’. What do I mean by a touch point? Simply, every time a customer touches your business. A brochure they read. A form they fill in. A website they visit. A sign they follow. Believe me, if you make it hard for people to do business with you, they won’t. They’ll vote with their feet.

Everyone can afford good design
What’s more important to you? How many leaflets you hand out, or how many orders you get? You could mail a million badly designed leaflets and get no orders. Or, you could send a thousand with a clear and compelling design and win a dozen orders. The difference is design. So unless your budget is zero, you can definitely afford good design.

The reality is, we’re printers. (Our name’s a bit of a give away). We make money by selling you printing. Why would I tell you to spend less on printing? Because I know that with bad design, you’ll be wasting your money, your campaign won’t be successful and we may not see you again. If we create good design for you, you’ll win business and you’ll be back for more. Lots more. Creating good design for you is good business for us.

Steps to good design
Don’t feel intimidated or bamboozled. Creating effective design that works is what we do for thousands of customers every week. The best way to improve is to follow these five steps:

1. Gather together all your printed stuff. Everything that your customers see. Brochures. Business Cards. Forms. Letters. Invoices. Comment Cards etc.


2. Now take photos of the bigger stuff. Your posters. Your store front or reception. Your website. Your building signage.


3. Get a big piece of brown paper. Lay out all the bits and try to put them together in sequence – from a customer making an enquiry, right through to the point where they get a receipt or invoice. Stick all the bits to the brown paper.


4. Stand back. Like what you see? Does it all look like it’s from the same organisation? Is it all in the same ‘voice’? If it is, well done. You’re better than most. If it isn’t, then take a deep breath…


5. Make the decision to change – a little bit at a time.


Now what?
Get scribbling on the brown paper. Write on all the things that are wrong. Those logos don’t match. That wording sounds a bit unfriendly. This form is hard to follow. These brochures have got pictures of our old premises. The website hasn’t been updated since nineteen-oatcake. That leaflet looks like you’ve tried to cram the entire text of the bible onto one side. If you’re short of inspiration, get your partner to do it. Or better still, slip a friendly customer a few quid off their next order and get them to do it – they’ll be much more objective than you can be.

I’m making no assumptions, but if you’re like most of our customers, changing all your printing simultaneously may not be within your immediate budget – even at our low prices. That’s why it’s important to prioritise. Which items are in the worst state?

Let us help you
Your local printing.com store team love a challenge. Helping businesses promote themselves better is what we do every day. So, roll up your brown paper and bring it in. It would help if you’ve given some thought to these questions.

• What do you do?
• Who are your customers?
• Why do they buy from you?
• Why don’t they buy from your nearest competitor?
• What do you do better than your competitors?
• What do you do worse?
• Where else do your customers shop?
• What brands do they buy?
• What do you want to be doing this time next year?
• Who would your ideal customer be?
• What would you need to do to get them?
• What message are you trying to communicate?

Don’t worry if you can’t answer them all. Talk to the team. They’ll help you come up with design that works. Design that’s clear. Design that’s consistent. And most importantly, design that gets results.