3 Design Tips for Startups to Create a Professional Looking Brand

Starting a business is tricky. You need to wear many hats and it can be difficult going from a “finance” hat to a “creative” hat.

Option one is to hire a professional. Get in touch with some local graphic designers/branding specialists and let them handle the creative bits and pieces you need. 

Let them become an extension to your in-house team, someone you can trust to get the creative juices flowing. Obviously, that’s an “ideal world” solution and funds can be tight when starting a business. 

Don’t worry though, our friends at Super Star Designs have constructed 3 quick and easy tips for you to follow, to deal with your marketing and graphic design needs.

Canva is your new best friend

Canva is a useful graphic design platform used to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents and other visual content. The app includes templates for users to use. 

The platform is free to use and offers paid subscriptions like Canva Pro and Canva for Enterprise for additional functionality. Utilise Canva to the best of your ability, it will really benefit your business in the early stages, until it’s time to hand over the design aspects to someone else. 

KISS

No, we’re not asking you to kiss anyone in the office… KISS stands for, Keep It Simple Stupid!

For some reason, people who aren’t designers like to over complicate designs. Remember, less is more. White space isn’t always an issue, so don’t feel like you need to cover every bit of the canvas.

Simplistic designs always look more professional, appear more modern and last longer. In a design sense, this means they won’t have to be redesigned again for a long time. We’ll say it again, less is more.

Your True Colours

When deciding which colours you want to use, don’t necessarily pick your favourite colour. It’s not about you, it’s about your business and your clients.

It’s so easy to pick blue as your brand colour because it was your favourite colour growing up and it reminds you of your youth. Take into consideration your typical target market and what will attract them. 

There’s also a psychological aspect of colours when it comes to branding, which you should certainly consider (see below image). 

A few other things to note with colours are:

• Reference a colour wheel: On a colour wheel, each colour has a complimentary colour. For example, dark blues complementary colour is bright yellow, meaning that they stand out when used in the same design. You can use this to highlight certain elements in your design.

• Contrast: Everyone’s different. Just because the design looks good to you, doesn’t mean it will look good to everyone else. Think of those that are visually impaired or have some kind of colour blindness. Will they be able to see the details in the design if it’s all different shades of grey?

An Extra (Free) Tip for Startups

Here’s another key tool for any startup to take advantage of and it comes in the shape of a user-friendly, free business tool. Yes, Contapp.

Replace the mundane, old school and expensive business card by opting for a modern, streamlined digital solution like Contapp. It’s free, eco-friendly and the most convenient option for businesses & individuals.

Experience a smarter way to digitally manage, share and use business card data, by downloading Contapp for free on iOS & Android today.