1. You did your own graphic design

You may feel empowered that you didn’t have to pay some graphic designer to design your brochures or logos, and perhaps even quite proud that you did it yourself, but did you really come out ahead? Not even close, my friend, because you probably wasted more money than you saved. If you’re wondering how that’s possible, the answer is simple; 99 times out of 100, your graphic design simply won’t produce results. There is a lot more that goes into effective design than designing something that appeals to you, and in this situation, a professional graphic designer knows what works and what doesn’t. Despite having taken an art class or two in college, you are not on the same level as someone who spends day in and day out working in the field.

Designing your own marketing materials not only presents an unprofessional image, it also makes it appear that you can’t afford to hire professionals to handle important aspects of your business and that damages your credibility.

2. Your graphic design looks like a clone of your competitors

When you see a Fortune 500 company in your industry come out with a killer graphic design piece, you may be tempted to emulate it. Don’t. Their design may be first-rate, but when you copy it is people will think of them instead of you when they see it, and since that competitor probably has a marketing budget that’s bigger than your annual revenue, they will get the business. Your graphic design needs to stand out, not follow the cookie cutter model that everyone else is following like a mindless bunch of lemmings. I can’t tell you how many morons have copied our website and other marketing materials, and all it’s done is drive more business to us. Your company is different than any of your competitors, so make sure you design shows that.

3. You try to make everything the most important thing

A headline is a headline. Body copy is body copy. We use bold and italic typefaces to emphasize certain words or sentences. Your design needs to utilize contrasting of sizes and weights of text, otherwise everything blends together and the reader quickly loses interest. Your information should be broken up into easily differentiated chunks so people can quickly navigate to the parts that interest them.

When you try to make every part of your graphic design the most important part, you actually end up making nothing important.

4. You use irrelevant imagery

I enjoy looking at a sexy woman as much as the next guy does, but when you’re using a picture of a bikini model in an ad for your latest software product, I’m going to seriously doubt your credibility. The same applies to pictures of babies, puppies or anything else that is intended to trigger an emotional response when it has nothing to do with the subject matter. Now, if you happen to run a carpet cleaning company and you have a picture of a cute little puppy soiling the rug, by all means, use it, but if you run a car dealership, find a more appropriate picture.

The idea of images in advertising is to get people thinking about how they will feel while enjoying the benefits of your products or services.

5. You try to cram in your life story

White space does not mean an opportunity to jam a few more sentences in. White space in your design makes it easier to read, which makes your message clearer and produces better results. If you really do need to add more information, buy a bigger ad/brochure/etc..

6. You put text over a busy photograph

Text over a photograph is difficult to read in the first place, especially if you use small text. If you insist on doing this, the photo should have lots of solid space and it should contrast sharply with the color of the text.

7. You use tiny text

Whether you’re doing it because you think it looks trendy or you’re just trying to fit as much text as possible into a given space, tiny text has become extremely common, and I want you to know that people hate it. If they can’t ready your copy, they won’t receive your message and your design is useless. You should ensure that your smallest text is always at least 8pt, or if it’s reversed (light text on a dark background) aim for at least 10-12pt.

8. You use horrible fonts

Many people use fonts because they think they look “cute” and don’t give much thought to the subject matter. You should use fonts that are relevant and legible, and for the love of God, stop using Comic Sans. It serves no purpose in any business marketing materials.

Many of our potential clients come to us because their current image isn’t working for them, whether we’re talking about a logo, website or printed marketing materials. They know that they need a new, fresh look to stand out from their competition and make an impact with their prospects. The problem is, that when push comes to shove, some of them want to stick with the same tired old look, using excuses like “this is how everyone else in our industry looks and we don’t want to be too different.” Unfortunately, when a redesign is just a new version of the same old thing not only is it not going to produce the results you want, it will also cause you to lose any branding you’ve currently achieved.

You can’t get get new results by doing the same thing, so if you’re going to have a new logo, website or printed marketing materials designed, heed the advice of the professionals you’ve hired, step outside your comfort zone and take a chance. It’s the only way you’re going to achieve the results you want. This applies not only to design, but also to advertising and even your overall marketing strategy.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to have a well designed website that is visually appealing, but the real purpose of website design is to convert as many of your visitors as possible into paying customers. The pretty graphics and high-tech bells and whistles are fine as long as they contribute to that, otherwise they are irrelevant. In business, the best looking website in the world is useless if it doesn’t convert.

When it comes to graphic design, what separates a non-designer from a designer? The difference is that the designers know what to put into a particular project, and a more important factor is that they know the technical reasons behind their decision. What seperates a designer from an outstanding designer? They know what to leave out of a particular project.

Sometimes, knowing what to do isn’t as important as knowing what not to do.

We’ve written several times about the importance of professional graphic design and even how to choose the right graphic designer, but what we haven’t discussed very much is how the cost of design can affect the return on your investment. As business owners, people often look for any opportunity to reduce their costs. While there can quite frequently be a strong upside to this, just as frequently if not more frequently, there can also be a tremendous downside.

Logo design, unlike most tangible products, is not a commodity. You may be able to find a manufacturer who will sell the same bolts you’ve been buying elsewhere for half the price. This is usually because that manufacturer has developed some specialized process to produce the bolts at a lower cost than their competitors can, or perhaps they have bought their raw materials in significantly larger quantities, earning themselves a volume discount. When it comes to service based businesses, this simply isn’t possible. You are paying for skill and experience.

So what happens when you try to reduce your costs by hiring graphic design companies or freelance graphic designers to design your logo based on price? Well, sometimes you come out ahead, but more often than not, you learn a very expensive lesson. On one end of the scale, you may end up with an unprofessional logo that presents a poor image of your company. On the other end of the scale, you could end up in a situation like a client that came to us after hiring one of the lowest priced design firms they could find.

They had hired a local firm to design their logo, then they had business cards, stationary, brochures and signage printed and even wrapped six cargo vans, only to find out that their logo was almost an exact copy of a competitor in the next city. They were furious and unfortunately, the firm that put them in this situation went out of business shortly afterwards leaving them with no recourse. Needless to say, after saving a few hundred dollars only to then waste several thousand dollars, they now thoroughly understand the cost vs. value equation. In the end, we developed a professional (and original) logo for them along with their new print marketing materials which they were very satisfied with.

When you decide to hire a graphic design company, before you look at their price, look at the quality of their work and how long they have been in business. If it turns out that you can’t afford the services of a top-quality graphic design firm, you may want to consider finding a way to come up with the money – it may save you a more sizable amount in the long run.