E Commerce: How Important is Graphic Design for Your Business

When you are new to building an e commerce business, it may be best to jump right in and simply get started using yourself as the primary  resource for development of your business ideas and the written and visual content. There are many fundamental steps to building an online business you can get done yourself and in the process you with quickly identify what critical factors within e commerce business development you enjoy the most.

This hands on approach may include learning to build a website from a simple open source platform such as WordPress. You may also wish to take on the challenges of copywriting and writing your own articles! Whats’ great about this approach is that you can validate your business without much cost and gain foundations for outsourcing later.

More, if you are planning to build a compelling brand and strengthen your brand identity, graphic design and brand identity design go hand in hand. This brings us to the question. How important graphic design is for your business? It can be arguably one of the most important success factors. Graphic design is not just a topic of elements of design. It is a huge part of your brand identity that captures attention, reminds us of experiences and makes bonds around trust with the people in your market.

Graphics Design for Websites

For an online business, graphics design for websites are quite important. When your are promoting your online business, the first thing your audience will see is your website. It is the place where your brand identity and market offering is communicated. Thus, getting graphics for websites correct is an important element towards a business plan. A website design is not as easy as picking a theme that looks cool. Graphics for websites need to be carefully thought out and designed to accomplish a range of needs.

To begin, try to nail down your target markets as close as possible. If you can answer the question, who are they and what do they want… you are off to a good start. Knowing the market you will serve will help you create common ground in design. If your audience is expecting simple and high end, try to deliver this in design. On the other hand, if your target market is creative, you may include elements of design that are more originative.

When your audience gets the first glimpse on your website, its design should capture interest and compel them to ask questions and look for solutions to answers you have. Furthermore, by taking this step within graphics design for websites, the process can help your brand differentiate by its look. As a result, this can help your online business achieve a unique brand identity or look distinct from others. When you think about it, there are thousands of brands that we see every day, but, only a fraction of those stick in mind because of little elements of graphic design that we connect with.

Additionally, if your new to building websites and not entirely sure what you want to create, explore a library of themes. In a short period of time, you will discover some design ideas that would fit your audience and purpose. Envato is a well known resource for website themes and online content solutions. You could also pick one from its library and start playing around with content or bring in a developer to help you with details. To note, if you are not tech savvy around website development, consider to connect with a developer before you pick a theme. This way, you can give you developer an idea of functional needs and then they could give you feedback on themes that may better choices for current and future needs; you don’t want to start with frameworks that are too old, not seo friendly and so on!

Logo Designs

A logo is a symbol or other graphical mark that has the power to identify and promote your business. It may contain a trademark and other graphical representation. The aesthetics within the logo says a lot about what your market can expect. Consider to look at some logos you are familiar with and come up with just three words for these logos. You may come up with words such as superior, futuristic, friendly and more.

Next, think about where your logo may be observed by your audience. Certainly, with a website a logo online goes hand in hand. Because the two compliment each other, its’ good practice to plan a logo along with a website design.

Moreover, if your online business includes physical products, then, logo design on products can be an important part of your marketing plan. You may wish to consider whether or not your logo design fits your products. For instance, if you products are eco based, it may not be a good idea to have a design that makes people think of gaming.

If you are trying to decide on resources for designing your logo online there are a few important knowledge areas to consider. To begin, take time to learn the basics of trademarking because this can impact the types of marks you use in a design. Have a look at samples of existing logo design to get an understanding of what you want to create. Also, if you are outsourcing a logo online, we find that a good designer should be prepared to ask you the right questions to bring out the values and connectedness to your business. It should be like a smooth interview where to tap into the right questions to bring together the unique qualities of your business in design. And, this also correlates to cost, hence its worth using top graphic design freelance sites or an agency if that’s in your budget.

Furthermore, when getting a logo design, consider getting a complete media package and different versions such as only text for different size and colour needs which may be best suited to put on your products.

E Commerce Product Design Packaging

On topic of e commerce business products, another important consideration is the product design of packaging. For your business, the online audience  will initially be making buying decisions based on visual appeal of what they can see online in addition to descriptive content. But, what happens when they finally receive your product? The first thing they see is your package. Your product package is the first physical impression of your brand. This impression may be the one thing that sets you aside from the competition and helps you go reach goals.

Other aspects of packaging are functionality. A good product design package may add the protection needed when shipping resulting in less returns. A design done well can also enable more products in less space while maintaining the strength needed. More, the material of your packaging may enable lower weight of shipping and higher profits.

Have you ever opened up a massive box to find a tiny product inside! What was your impression? Functionality considerations not only help you with your business goals, but, may leave yet another good impression on your markets.

There are many different resources for design of websites, logos and packaging. If you are starting on a budget or validating a business model, there are many low cost alternatives specifically where you can create your own designs. In doing so, it is a great learning experience and you can focus on resources such as time and knowledge.

Design Contests

Otherwise, one of our favourite strategies for such digital designs, specific to the smaller projects such as logos and packaging designs, to express your online business, are design contests via graphic design services and specifically with freelance sites. It’s by far not one of the cost effective methods when is comes to graphic design services but, a design contest holds many short and long term values. In the short term, working with multiple designers on a project provides both ideas and education.

Because there are many different types of design styles to consider in digital design, exposer to multiple designers from best freelance websites can help you see the different styles and make more informed decisions. Further, if you have 30 designs coming your way from different artists, then thats 30 different ideas presented with designs you simply may not have imagined otherwise.

In the longer term, graphic design services that offer design contests also provides you with the knowledge you need to ask the right questions for future designs. It also gives you an idea of the types of designers you may be looking for in case you want to outsource an individual designer. Furthermore, when you hold a design contest, you gain visibility on a wide range of graphic designers that you can hire or rehire.

This depth of knowledge extends to expanding your capacity for graphics design ideas. When you experience a graphics design content, you get exposed to a lot of different graphics design elements and styles. As a result, you gain an advantage around graphics design ideas whereby you apply a vast amount of design concepts to present or future applications.

One of our top graphic design freelance sites that includes design contests are 99designs. Founded in 2008, unlike some designer sites, 99designs serves its clients in a borderless manner. Depending on your needs, it provides up to 90 different skillsets from over 1 million freelance designers. In thought of tools for online business, 99designs is fully packed with great resources to provide solutions for your design needs.

Graphic design has become a very important success factor when building and maintaining an online business. It is what allows a business to express itself uniquely and building common ground with those seeking its solutions. And then, combining graphic designers with contests are one of the most productive ways of getting the job done for both short and long term gain; a game changer for online business and its audience. 99 designs is one example of best freelance sites to make this happen so you can accomplish important graphic design work aside from focusing on other important growth initiatives in your online business.