Graphic Design Services - London, UK

How do graphic design services tie in with a company's positioning? We can take a look at a large corporate as a case study, to see what importance they attach to their logo design within their brand image.

According to the CISCO creative standards handbook "Positioning is how our company is viewed by others in our target marketplace. While we have goals for positioning ourselves, ultimately our position is what others think and say about us. We can, however, greatly influence how we are positioned by communicating to our external audiences in a clear and consistent way."

Within the handbook guidelines are given with respect to the writing style you should use when communicating with your customers, how the company tag line fits into the overall branding and positioning. And of course, the logo -

"The Cisco Systems logo is our signature to the world and must not be compromised. It is integral to our worldwide corporate identity."

Overcomplicated and "busy" design hinders people from understanding the message they are meant to receive. This means that the information intended to reach the target audience is often lost in the clutter of messy web pages full of irrelevent banners, ads, navigation bars and excessive graphical elements.

Simplicity is often overlooked as websites seek to bombard their visitors with as many options as possible in the hope that they will find something to their liking.

In reality - its more likely that the information overload will result in user apathy, and too many options will often lead to frustration and a decision to leave without making any choices at all.

After all, we all have better things to do with our time than try to work out exactly what we are being served.

 "It’s crucial to have simple web designs to allow the user to quickly find the information they need, especially if you are selling a product. If the page is cluttered with useless text, widgets or unrelated products, the site becomes meaningless.

However, it’s become a common practice to do just the opposite. e-commerce sites have taken this “scatter shot” approach of trying to slap the potential buyer with as many options as possible. Instead of making the landing page solely about one product, sites usually clutter the page with unnecessary information, ads and related products. "

Glen Stansberry, taken from http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/26/how-simple-web-design-helps-your-business/

The logo design used on the signage is the front end of the business presenting its shop front to passing customers...it certainly helps when it is clear exactly who you are.

The C in the signage is much clearer and bolder than the smaller,  multi-colored Y which does not impress itself within the better defined C. This had led to the confusing situation when at the first glance the storename can easily be misread, not the best start for sending an effective message.

 (image courtesy of http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2163652270026551357BYisaG ) 

A good designer must therefore be able to be creative within the framework laid down by the customer. Bubbling creativity is of no use without a sense of context and economic realism. A designer must be capable of focused working within financial and time limitations. This is the challenge, and it is one of the areas a good designer gets paid to master."

Jan Nielsen, Creative Manager, Kuhl+co

There are many great designers out there with artistic flair, creativity and innovative thinking - after all, we're some of them :)

An important challenge is to be able to manage that creativity and innovation within a business context. Though creativity is an important attribute, it is of no use if left without focus and not harnessed in a productive manner. It is important that any project involving heavy elements of graphic design should have clear milestones and agreed deliverables, set within fixed timescales. This type of management of talent comes with experience across several clients and industry types.

So not only is good graphic design about delivering an effective message, but for it to be practically viable in a business sense, creativity and innovation need to be managed within a controlled environment to ensure that the client's business goals are met.