Graphic design: where to start?

Whether you’re working on a new marketing campaign or looking to promote an event or product, you’re likely to require some form of graphic design. Typically, you’ll know everything that you need to know about what you’re looking to promote, but your audience may not. And this is where graphic design comes in; and why it’s so important.

Graphic design should communicate messages in a way that is both clear and appealing to your audience – after all, what’s the point of designing something that your target audience won’t read just because they don’t like the way it looks?

If you’re putting together a design brief or creating a piece of graphic design yourself, there are a few key steps that you’ll need to think about.

Start with the basics

The best place to start is with the copy, the text elements that are going to get your message across. Begin with the key message, the reason why you’re creating this piece of design. Then move to the supporting copy, the text that will back up your key message. And don’t forget a call to action. There’s no point creating a flyer, brochure, landing page or social post if your target audience looks at your beautiful design but it doesn’t tell them what they should do next!

Add personality

Once you know what text you’d like to use, you can start to think about additional design elements. The bits and bobs that are going to add personality to your design. Think about what imagery you will use. Will you be using photos or illustrations to back up your message? And what style typeface should you use?

When it comes to photos and illustrations, it’s always great to use your own but creating a bank of images to use within your marketing collateral can be quite costly. If your budget allows though, having your own set of photos or illustrations will mean that you are using imagery that is unique to your business and there is no risk of your competitors using the same images for their campaigns.

For those who might not have the budget for this though, or the photography or illustrator skills to do it themselves, stock images could be a good option. Websites such as iStock have tonnes of great quality photos available for a relatively low cost, and there are free sites such as Unsplash and Pixabay as well. You do get what you pay for though. You’ll notice that the range on sites that offer free stock images is nowhere near as expansive as more premium stock image websites, so it may prove to be more difficult to find the perfect image for your project.

When it comes to typography, each font style will have its own personality, so you must choose the right one for your design.

Serif fonts (the ones with the little flicky bits) are perfect if you’re going for a classic, traditional look.

Sans-serif fonts create a more contemporary feel - creating a professional, corporate look for your design.

If you’d like to add some flair or give your design a more human or creative look, a script-style font may be the way to go. Be warned though, use these fonts sparingly. They’re great for headings but a full paragraph set in a script typeface will be very difficult to read!   

If you’re new to creating designs or have never worked with a graphic designer before, the whole process may feel a little daunting. But by keeping things simple and prioritising the points mentioned above, you and your designer should be able to work together to create eye-catching designs that don’t just look good but achieve great results too.

If you’d like help with your next design project, feel free to get in touch.

Getting ready for Christmas

Christmas is just around the corner, exciting right! For many of us, Christmas often creeps up out of nowhere, while others have had it at the forefront of their minds for months.

A lot of preparation goes into marketing in the run-up to Christmas, and with that, design plays an important part to showcase the warm, cosy feel that is associated with the festive season.

Several of our clients have been busy planning their campaigns which are now in full swing. As a result, we’ve recently been knee-deep in all things Christmas!

Targets for businesses can vary in the run-up to Christmas, so design concepts for each campaign cannot just be rinsed and repeated. While some organisations may be advertising festive events, others may simply be promoting their services or products, the ideal gifts for the important people in your life.

While there are colours we all automatically associate with Christmas, we have to bear in mind the target audience that we are aiming the campaign to. While a Santa Clause red may be an obvious choice when it comes to Christmas, it might not necessarily be the colour that will best match your message. And besides, does it suit your brands colour palette? You do not want your design to clash! Plus, too much red on your design and you may start to look more like a well-known cola brand!

While some campaigns may require an all-out Christmas explosion, others may need something a little more subtle. We recently created several pieces of marketing literature for Lincoln Cathedral that advertised several events they were hosting in the run-up to Christmas. While each piece had its own job to do, all three followed a similar look. Decorative elements such as baubles and gift tags were used to not only dress the designs but were also used to help key messages or logos to stand out. A rich gold was used alongside their recognisable brand colour of purple to create a traditional Christmas look with a classic Lincoln Cathedral feel. Along with the colour palette and design elements, we also thought about the textures that would help achieve the traditional look we wanted to achieve. Instead of flat blocks of colour, we added textured paper effects to create a richness to the design that compliments the overall look.

Over the last couple of months, we’ve also been helping South Ormsby Estate with a range of printed and digital graphics to help them promote their Massingberd-Mundy branded products. Similarly to Lincoln Cathedral, the overall aesthetic required was one that portrayed a feeling of tradition but also one that created a feeling of luxury that would match their quality, hand-crafted range of award-winning products. Again, we looked at different textures that would suit the feel and added a bit of Christmas sparkle with glittery elements to add a party feel to the campaign.

It’s not just our clients who have been preparing for Christmas. Here at Balance, we’ve created our own Christmas card that we will be sending to clients and suppliers. In a contrast to the designs we’ve created for Lincoln Cathedral and South Ormsby Estate, we’ve stuck very closely to our branding. Creating simple Christmas imagery using the triangle from our logo, along with our pink background colour, we’ve created a subtle design that is as much Christmas as it is Balance Designs. A Christmas card may be a simple gesture, and although an email may be a quicker and cheaper way to contact your clients, never underestimate the importance of direct mail. In our eyes, there’s no match to a piece of beautiful design that you can pick up and hold in your hands. It’s also a great way to ensure your target audience has a reminder of your business on their desk ahead of the New Year!

And New Year is where we’re heading next! We can’t wait to get stuck into all the new campaigns for 2022. A time of year for fresh ideas, new campaigns and positive changes for all of us. If you're looking to launch a new campaign or are looking to spruce up your branding, get in touch.

Cycling 100 miles for NEHI UK

On the 1 July, I will be taking part in the 100 mile C2C2C 2021 charity bike ride to raise money for NEHI UK (part of ChILD UK).

The charity aims to raise awareness of and support families affected by the rare lung disease, Neuroendocrine Hyperplasia of Infancy (NEHI).

The challenging route takes the riders on a tour of Lincolnshire including the hills of the Lincolnshire Wolds.

Although NEHI UK is a small charity, it is very close to my heart since my youngest daughter, Martha, was diagnosed with NEHI in early 2018. Any money raised will help fund further research into the disease as well as raise awareness of the condition. For more information about NEHI, click here.

Martha has provided lots of support throughout my training!

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Flat-fee graphic design: Simplifying your design costs

Here at Balance Designs, we aim to ensure organisations look their best - we’re a bit like beauticians but for businesses.

Having a great marketing strategy is extremely important, but it will only achieve the results you’re aiming for if it is backed up with a design that attracts your audience and communicates your message well.

We understand that graphic design can seem expensive, and with some agencies, costs can rack up. It’s sometimes difficult to forecast how much of your marketing budget you should put aside for design and for some businesses, it may be tempting (and less expensive) just to not bother. But would that be the right impression to give your customers?

To make the world of graphic design a little simpler, we offer a flat-fee design package. For a flat-fee of just £474.99 per month, we will work on all your day-to-day design needs. From flyers to social graphics, exhibition designs to email templates, our flat-fee design has you covered.

How does it work?

1. Once you’ve signed up for our flat-fee graphic design service, drop us an email letting us know what you need.

2. We’ll let you know when you can expect to see the first draft of your design – usually in approx. 2-3 days.

3. After reviewing our design, you can let us know if you’d like us to make any amends to the artwork.

4. We’ll continue to amend the artwork, at no extra cost, until you’re completely satisfied.

5. We go again. Once a job has been signed off, send over your next job and we’ll start the process again.

Why choose flat-fee design?

Our flat-fee design service is perfect for any company who’s looking to promote themselves and stay on brand but also keep a reign on their design costs (and who wouldn’t want to keep control of their costs?). It also cuts out the time-consuming process of getting design quotations and explaining your company’s vision and campaign over and over again. Simply submit your design brief and we’ll get to work. It’ll be like having your very own in-house designer.

 To ensure we can turn around as many jobs as possible - and help you the most bang for your buck - our flat-fee package includes what we call “everyday” design jobs. These are jobs that we can turn around quickly allowing you to start promoting your marketing message or kick-start a new campaign. 

There are some jobs that we like to dedicate a bit more time to which shouldn’t be rushed, so these are not included. Instead, we will quote for these on a case-by-case basis but as a Balance flat-fee design customer, you will receive a 20% discount.

What's included?

• Flyers
• Brochures (8 pages or under)
• Adverts
• Exhibition graphics
• Social media graphics
• Email templates
• Business Cards
• Business Stationery
• Forms
• PowerPoint templates
• Stickers and labels
• Signage
• Posters
• Presentation Folders
• & much more

What's not included?

• Logo designs
• Brand guidelines
• Website builds
• Complex graphics
• Complex photo manipulations
• Illustrations
• Packaging design
• Larger graphic design projects (Over 8 pages)

If you'd like to simplify your design process or would like more information about our flat-fee design plan, get in touch.

The 2020 wrap up

Here we go, it's nearly Christmas. And what a year that was! 

It's the time of year where many of us can stop and reflect on the 12 months that have just gone by and today, I thought I would take a moment out of my day and do just that. 

2020 will, of course, go down as a crazy year, a tragic year and a year full of disruption. It's a year that gave many of us time to reflect on our lives and a year that forced many of us to press the reset button. But when I think about it, I'm coming out the other side feeling pretty blessed.  

It may have been the year of the global pandemic that was Covid-19 but it was also the year that Balance was born, so I will always look back on this year with a degree of fondness and pride. But, it took more than just me to ensure I could finish a year like this with such optimism and, hoping not to sound like a dull acceptance speech at a socially distanced awards ceremony, there are a few thank you's I'd like to make.

Thank you, clients

It goes without saying that without our amazing clients, Balance wouldn't be here. As a new business, born out of Covid-19, I feel extremely privileged to able to work with some fantastic organisations. Some of which, like many others, have had to overcome some major hurdles along the way. Together though, we've been able to produce some fantastic work that we can all be truly proud of.

Thank you, NHS

If we think the year has been difficult for us, we have to remember the strain that our NHS has been through. So regularly a service we all took for granted, it has been good to see the appreciation and the tributes paid to the brilliant doctor's and the incredible nurses and carers who have worked so hard to help so many through what must have been one of their most challenging years. 

To show our thanks, Balance recently created a design that will be displayed at Lincoln County Hospital. Acting as a tribute to the incredible staff who work in their Intensive Care Unit, the print showcases every dedicated member of the 100+ team who put their lives at risk every time they simply went to work, just so they can help others. Thank you, thank you, thank you. You're all amazing!

Thank you, family

Starting a graphic design business and working from home was always going to be a challenge. Staying in a creative flow, sorting out the accounts and telephone and Zoom calls were bound to have their moments when there was homeschooling with a 4 and an 8-year old going on at the same time. But, as interesting as that can be for me, I have to appreciate the change my family have had to go through too. Going from seeing me briefly in the morning and evening to having me sat in the dining room (ahem, design studio) all day must have had an impact on their lives and routine too! So, I have to say a massive thank you to my family, for bearing with me and for supporting me throughout this strange year. 

Although setting up my own graphic design business was never in my thinking at the start of 2020, it has been fantastic seeing more of my children (and my wife!) and enjoying the flexibility that working from home allows. As well as aiming to produce beautiful and effective designs to help businesses communicate their messages, Balance was also about finding the work-life balance that can easily get missed in a "regular" job. 

Sometimes things are forced upon us, and although they may seem a little scary at the time, you have to remember that thing's do happen for a reason. Yes, 2020 has been a bit... well, rubbish, but it has been great too. Remember, if we don't go through the tough times, we would never notice the good times. 

Right, I've gone on for long enough now. It's time you finished wrapping presents and making sure you're ready for Santa to visit. Have a great Christmas, stay safe and keep washing your hands. Here's to 2021. Let's hope it's just as good (or maybe a little bit better). 

Introducing our charity of the year for 2021

As we approach a brand-new year, we're pleased to announce our very first charity of the year. In 2021 we will be looking to support NEHI UK (part of ChILD UK), a charity that aims to raise awareness of and support families affected by the rare lung disease, Neuroendocrine Hyperplasia of Infancy (NEHI).

Children with NEHI often have rapid and difficult breathing, low levels of oxygen in the blood (hypoxemia), and on examination with a stethoscope, a crackling sound can be heard on the lungs. Children may initially be diagnosed with asthma or prolonged respiratory infections as the symptoms often overlap. However, children with NEHI generally do not respond to asthma treatments.

Although NEHI UK is a small charity, it is one that is very close to my heart since my youngest daughter was diagnosed with NEHI in early 2018. 

My youngest daughter, Martha (bottom right), was diagnosed with NEHI just after her 2nd birthday.

The charity is run by a group of parents who also have children that have been diagnosed with NEHI. They aim to build a community to share their experiences, raise awareness, educate and support scientific research of the disease.

Throughout the year, Balance will be doing what it can to raise money to help fund further research as well as raise awareness of the condition.

Make sure you follow us on social to keep up to date with our fundraising efforts.

For more information about NEHI, click here.

Our thank you to the NHS

It may have been a year of lockdowns, bubbles and keeping yourself to yourself but it was impossible not to notice the strain that was put upon our National Health Service this year. There are times when each of us has to step up at work, but what the NHS has been through this year has been on another level.

I can’t comprehend how difficult it must have been to do the shifts they’ve done whilst seeing the things they’ve seen. All I can say is a massive thank you to the amazing staff who have worked throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

On occasions, there are times where we want to do something to help or to at least show our gratitude, but we’re not quite sure what we can do. That is exactly what I was feeling. Although fortunate enough not to have been affected directly by Coronavirus, I’m extremely grateful knowing that such a dedicated team of doctors, nurses and carers are there should my friends, family or I need them. Luckily, Balance was approached by a member of the Intensive Care Unit team at Lincoln County Hospital to help create a design that they could display.

They had collected photos of every member of their ICU team who had worked through the Coronavirus pandemic and asked us for recommendations of how they could display them. We jumped at the chance to help create the design for them as, even though a very small gesture, we could finally help and in the way that we know best.

With over 100 members of staff to feature, we kept the design minimal. To show how each member of the team played their part and how great things are achieved by working together, we displayed each photo at an equal size and placed them all together to create one bold image. Overlaying the rainbow stripes tied in a visual element that served as a reminder of the rainbows that were displayed in windows up and down the country as many others also looked to find a way to say, “thank you”.

Securing the future of Lincoln Cathedral

As a proud Lincolnshire yellowbelly, I’m honoured to work on graphic design projects with Lincoln Cathedral. The cathedral is arguably the most iconic landmark in the county, and I believe us Lincolnshire folk are extremely lucky to have such a magnificent landmark right on our doorstep.

Like many other organisations recently, the cathedral has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis, seeing a reduction in visitor numbers and numerous event cancellations. 

Between 1 April and 31 July 2020, the cathedral lost over £750,000 income from visitor admissions, events, donations and commercial activity in the shop and Refectory. It is also unlikely that there will be a return to pre-COVID visitor numbers anytime soon as the public (understandably so in the current climate) are still wary when it comes to getting out and about and footfall is expected to be well below the typical levels.

Over the last few weeks, Balance Designs has worked closely with Lincoln Cathedral’s Communications team on their ‘Provide, Protect, Preserve’ recovery appeal. The appeal aims to help secure the cathedral’s future as a place of worship and visitor attraction.

We wanted the visuals for the campaign to pop and to ensure the simple message would stand out from the designs typically associated with the cathedral. Bold typography and a bright colour palette were selected to act as a contrast to their typical look whilst also portraying a resilient and positive feel.

As part of the cathedral’s flat-fee design package with Balance, we’ve designed a range of designs for the campaign including social and digital graphics - including animated gif’s - as well as flyers and signage that can be seen around the historic cathedral.

There are a number of ways people can support the appeal, including a six-month pledge or ongoing direct debit, or to pledge a legacy gift in your will.

To donate or to find out more about the Provide, Protect, Preserve appeal, click here. If you would like more information about the Balance flat-fee design package, get in touch.

Our branding process

Here at Balance, we love a good branding project, whether it’s working with a start-up or an established organisation that needs a refresh. A company’s brand is so important. It’s what leaves a memorable impression (hopefully a good one!) on consumers and it gives your customers and clients an idea of what they can expect from your company.

Each branding job is very different; however, our method is always the same. Here we explain what our process is and the journey we go through with our clients when styling their business.

It’s good to talk

We live in an age of emails and notifications. But we still prefer to have a good old conversation – face-to-face preferably but if that’s not possible, a Zoom meeting or telephone call at least. This is important as it gives us a chance to get a good understanding of what their company is all about. What’s their personality, what are their values, what are their aims? We also want to get to know your product(s), your target market and what your aims are – where do you want to be in 1, 5 and 10 years?

We also like to hear about any thoughts you’ve had about your branding. Some clients we work with have a clear idea of what they want. Others have no idea whatsoever, and that is absolutely fine. Branding and logo designs aren’t everyone’s speciality, just like dancing isn’t a forte of mine. If I was looking to teach my children how to dance, I’d call an expert – there’s no shame in that. So, you shouldn’t feel embarrassed if you’re not sure what colours, typeface or imagery you should be using.

We tend to follow this up with an email just asking for any additional information that we may require. We may ask for examples of designs you love, keywords that best describe your business and any sketches or doodles you’ve jotted down that may help us to understand your vision.

 Research, research, research

After getting to know you, we like to get to know your customers or clients and also your competitors. We’re not saying you should be doing what they’re doing, but it’s common sense to keep one eye open to see if you can learn what works and what doesn’t.

We’ll then start creating (or adding to if you’ve already started one) a mood board. We’ll explore colour palettes, understand the psychology behind the colour, typefaces, photography and illustration styles as well as logo designs. We then share the mood board with the client to see what tickles their fancy and what is a big fat NO! Occasionally, we’ll then develop the mood board further to help us cement the feel that the branding should capture.

Time to start sketching?

So, this is the point that a lot of designers start sketching their ideas. I work a little differently. I like to take a day or two, if time allows, to digest all the nougats of information we’ve taken in during the research and mood board stage. Allowing myself this time just allows my brain to put all the pieces together. It’s then, at this point, I’m ready to hit the ground running and start putting my ideas down on paper. Occasionally, if I have a really clear idea of what I want to create, I may just go straight to the Mac, open up Adobe Illustrator and start developing on-screen but there is no beating good old-fashioned pen and paper when it comes to getting ideas out fast. 

Let’s get digital

After getting my ideas down on paper, it’s now time to whittle them down to my favourite concepts. If I haven’t done so already, I’ll get Illustrator up and running, and start bringing my drawings to life. To begin with, I’ll start in simple black and white. This helps me to concentrate on the form of the logo and minimise any distractions. 

Next up is to identify a font that can be used as the starting point. My first port of call is typically Adobe Fonts where there are thousands of typefaces to choose from and they’re all available free of charge when you subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud! Depending on the logo, we may use the typeface as it is, after all, they have been designed by expert typographic designers. Quite often though, we may just tweak the type a little. Adding a subtle flourish here and there can bring a logo to life, give it some soul and help bring some individuality.

We then look at creating the mark (if applicable). Illustrator has all the tools to create beautiful logos, but sometimes, if creating something that will require a more hand-drawn quality, I may use a Wacom tablet.  

Once the form of the logo is in place, I then start to add the colour. Drawing inspiration from our mood board, we’ll identify a colour palette that creates the right impression for the brand. Colour is so important; it can tell us so much without us even realising it. Every colour sends a subconscious message to us so we must get this right.

Usually, we’ll pick out one or two main colours, the stars of the show, and then find some additional ones that will compliment them – the supporting cast. A tool I love when creating a colour palette is coolors.co. It allows you to enter your main colours and then presents you with additional colours that compliment them. If you’re not keen on what it comes back with straightaway, you simply generate some new ones. You keep going until your happy. Brilliant!

Before we show the concepts to the client, we produce variations of the logos that will work on both light and dark backgrounds. We also add the logos to mock-up visuals. It helps bring the logos to life and gives the clients a really good understanding of how their new logo will work in the real world.

Develop

Now, I like to think that we’re good at what we do but we realise that we’re not always going to get it right first time. We’re only human after all! That’s why we’re more than happy to develop any of our concepts until our client (and we) are completely happy and confident that the logo is completely right for the client.  

Finishing off

Once the logo has been approved, we create a suite of logos that will ensure the client can promote themselves no matter what the orientation of the space is or what colour the background is. We add all the logos to a logo pack which is then provided to the client.

The logo pack will include all the logo options and will be supplied as eps files (best for print) and jpg and png files (best for web). We’ll also provide the logo as any other file type requested by the client.

We also provide a social avatar as standard, to ensure the customer can show off their shiny new branding straightaway across all their social channels.

A logo guide is also supplied. Think of this as a mini brand guide, detailing the colours used and the supporting palette as well as the typefaces used. We can, of course, produce much more in-depth brand guidelines too but we like to ensure all our clients have the information they need to get up and running and stay true to their new branding from the get-go. 

Branding is extremely important; it is often the first impression so you have to get it right. We wouldn’t go to a meeting in our scruffs and neither should our branding. If you’d like some help dressing your business give us a shout. Dancing might not be our thing, but helping businesses look their best definitely is.