10 tips for winning at design and consumer lead generation

As technological developments roll in at a rapid-fire pace, the design that represents a brand is more important than ever.

“You’re designing not only the face of the company, but you’re also making the user feel comfortable with your brand,” Ahmad Yilmaz, digital producer at No Limit Agency*, said. Here are 10 tips for dominating the design game:

Know your audience; know how to talk to them. Identify the target audience and allow its principal characteristics to guide the brand’s design aesthetic and tone. Remember, visual communication is just as nuanced as verbal communication—take cues and study up!

Represent the brand. You only get one first impression, and the design behind a brand is just that—a customer’s first introduction. The graphic design representing a business should embody the brand’s point of view and effortlessly convey it to customers.

Be consistent. Once the aesthetic of the brand is defined, don’t veer off on tangents. Too many modifications or logo swaps can jeopardize brand recognition and alienate customers.

Keep it clean. There is no room for clutter in the design world. Simple, intuitive graphics yield the most impact with consumers.

Take your website anywhere, anytime. Technology is now more important than ever, and a website should be optimized for all portable devices.

“A website has to pay attention to those trends that are happening on mobile devices,” Yilmaz said.

Don’t overwork the design. Constantly massaging ideas can often lead to a diluted final product. Trust your instincts and be disciplined enough to know when to step away from a project.

Integrate social media. Confirm that your website is not only polished, but also that all social media channels are represented in some fashion. Whether it’s a handful of widgets or a group of hyperlinks, integrating social media into a website can help build brand power.

Simple is better.

“You want the design to feel unaggressive and not cheesy. Keep it plain, simple and to the point so the user focuses on what’s important,” Yilmaz said.

By showcasing the heart and soul of the brand, users can more easily understand its products.

Make the website easy to navigate. No one wants to hunt through a trove of webpages to peek at a price list or find a nugget of contact information. Incorporating intuitive navigation throughout a website will give customers the most pleasant browsing experience possible.

Streamline anything and everything. Social media channels should complement a brand’s website and abide by similar design principles. By striking a balance between brand tone and informative content, a business’s social media outlets will be a resource, not an afterthought.