"good design goes to heaven...

...bad design goes everywhere."

I love this quote by Mieke Gerritzen not because it makes me happy to see bad design everywhere I turn, but because it simply speaks the truth.

As a graphic design studio specializing in identity branding and print design, we have the privilege of working with many small business owners.

One thing that we absolutely admire in them is their entrepreneur attitude...the attitude to get out there and make things happen.

While this "do it yourself" attitude is crucial to a small business' survival, taking a "do it yourself" attitude to your branding is a huge mistake.

See, a great graphic designer worth your time and money isn't getting paid to just make things look pretty or look "good". Real graphic designers add value to your business. They understand your business philosophy and marketing position and the collateral they design for your brand advances and strengthens these core values.

I own scissors...but I am by no means a hair stylist (just ask our almost 2 year old son who I lovingly attempted to give a bang trimming to). Simply owning the tools (for example a computer or a pre-made, one size fits all template) does not make you a designer.

Hiring a professional designer that understands his (or her) trade is one of the best things you can do for your company, because the truth is bad design is everywhere and sadly businesses are judged by what they look like.

If you want to be above your competition and have design work that is concise and in alignment with your brand's message, you need to direct your "do it yourself" attitude into running your business and hire a trustworthy, professional graphic designer for all of your design needs.

As Kodak CEO George Fisher says, "In the end, what customers really see is what designers design. That is the ultimate tool that a company has in order to be competitive in the marketplace."

Professional designed business collateral helps your business to:

1. Look established. Do It Yourself business collateral from printed at home business cards to template designed email ads scream amateur or "start up" business to potential clients. While there is nothing at all wrong with being a new business, looking well established helps to gain trust in the consumer's mind.

2. Stand out. Bad design is really everywhere...we see it constantly in our local newspaper and monthly coupon mailers we receive...we find it stuck to our windshields when leaving parking lots and it even looks at us off the menus of the restaurants we eat in. Bad design hinders or can completely ignore your main objectives, while good design helps you stand out from competition and reinforces your businesses' branding values.

3. Build a consistent image for your company. I can't even tell you how many times we've seen a business use multiple designers for different collateral; one for the newspaper ad, one for a magazine ad, another for a flier design...the result is a weakened brand image. Using a professional designer who understands your values will help you grow a consistent image which will also establish you as being trustworthy as well as being more cost effective because the more consistent you are in branding, the more likely your brand will be recognized and on the forefront of consumer's minds when needing to make a purchase in your line of work.

4. Establish you as a leader. Take an example from world famous Apple. Apple uses good, innovative design (in branding and in their products) to continue to reinforce their leader role in the electronics industry. Good design will set you apart. And as long as you are backing the promise made in your marketing, it will make you the only option to consumers. It will make your competition wonder what you will be up to next.

Recently when our economy took a big hit, consumers became more aware of where they spent their money and instead of making mindless purchases, they carefully thought out which companies and what products were still deserving of their hard earned dollars. Now more than ever, you can't afford to have ineffective and even potentially negative design representing your business.

Here at Different By Design, we pride ourselves in being educated in our field and becoming "mini experts" in the fields of our clients. We would love to discuss your design needs or if you aren't even sure what your brand values are or what your brand "stands" for, why...we'd love to help you with that too!

Feel free to use the "contact" button on our site to reach us or call us directly at 530.790.5762

leave it to google

I was pleasantly surprised when I clicked onto Google last week, on June 21st (the fist day of summer!), to be specific and instantly recognized the art work of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami.

It reminded me of the Murakami Louis Vuitton pieces commissioned by Marc Jacobs a few seasons back.

Not exactly my personal taste (though I was obsessed with the panda he drew for Louis Vuitton), but you have to admit those cherry, bright colors make you smile! Very fitting to kick off one of our favorite seasons, Summer!

*top image taken from Google, bottom image is a result from a Google search

we ALL did it! hooray!

Yesterday was our Grand Opening party for the studio. I can't think of just one reason why everything didn't get done in time, but it just seemed as if a ton of tiny things just overwhelmed us and there was simply not enough time in the day!

Thankfully the guests that arrived early were SO sweet and orchestrated helping out and getting the food table set up and helping with some light picking up around the studio.

Sadly, Billy was not even able to make it by 6 pm (when it started) because he was out grabbing ice and the cake! Because I absolutely needed his help for some things, we simply had to accept the fact that we weren't going to have the studio just the way we wanted it but you know what?

God is good! And everyone had a great time. It was so nice to see all the friendly faces of our clients, friends, and family!

I will do a more thorough update once we get some photos back from our lovely photographer and friends who took photos that night. I literally did not take one!

Just wanted to stop and say THANK YOU to everyone for their encouragement. On top of our lovely local guests, we had several guests from Chico, California and one guest that literally flew in from Southern California just to attend the opening. You all push us to be better in everything we do. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

it's official!

Yesterday we got the keys to the studio and today was our first day working at the new location! We LOVE it! Of course most of our days right now are being spent moving things, but we were able to stop and work on some client proofs this afternoon. It was a great day! We will be holding our Grand Opening later this month, but in the mean time if you want to pop in and say hi, we'd love to see you!

Different By Design is open Monday-Friday from 9am to 5pm and outside days and times by appointment. You can find us at 546 B Yolo Street, which is off of Bridge Street, headed towards the bridge.

Of course no update would be complete without pictures...these are from the cellphone, so please excuse the quality!

Happy Monday everyone!