Creative design is at the heart of the marketing communications of any brand. However, if you’re not a graphic designer or if you’ve never worked in the industry before, what exactly is it?
Put simply, one of the main purposes of creative design is communication. It visually translates your organisation and its products and services to the outside world in a way that is designed to really connect to that audience. And this is where the ‘creative’ part comes in.
A simple design can be words, pictures and graphics, all laid out to convey a message. However without some creativity in how this is done, there is a lost opportunity to grab the attention of your audience and present the things about your organisation in a unique way. It’s why creative designers will despair at artwork that looks standard, or boring, or just plain… well, plain! A creative design should really elevate a message, pique the interest of the viewer and represent a brand in the best way possible.
So how does this type of design come about? Well, it begins with the basic brand elements: your logo, colour palette, choice of typography, as well as the basic elements and devices used across your visual communications. Creative design represents your business and mastering the right colour palette or picking just the right font can have a huge impact on the feel and strength of your visual brand.
But creative design isn’t all about creativity for creativity’s sake. Consistency is a crucial factor that can have a huge impact on your organisation’s image. Ensuring the same brand elements flow consistently through all your marketing channels increases recognition, awareness and trust.
So for a professional creative designer, the balance of where and when to add in the flair, the difference, and the creative touch that makes a design really sing and stand out from the crowd is a constant consideration of how a design is working, and what its purpose and audience is.
To give further insight, our Creative Director Matt Ansell and Creative Manager Kristen Voisey share their advice.
Don’t forget, your brand is much more than the logo. You need to consider every aspect from how you interact on social media, to your company’s voice. All of these decisions can be determined in your brand guidelines, which is something we offer here at Jask Creative.
Nailing your company’s creative design and defining brand guidelines does much more than just bringing in client work. It also helps to bring in new staff which in turn brings in new, fresh ideas to the company.
Matt Ansell
Creative Director
The evolution of creative design
Creative design is an ever-developing process – it’s something that never stops. It constantly evolves as your brand grows. Trends play an important part in this evolution and it’s important to adapt to the dynamic creative world before your brand gets lost and outdated.
2018 is the year of modernising vintage trends, however, minimalism and simplification continue to stay. Implementing patterns inspired by the eighties and nineties, using gradients and duotones instead of blocks of colour, and working with bold typography are some of the new go-to trends this year.
Incorporating movement in the form of animation, GIFs or microinteractions are also other popular design trends. You can see the evolution process from static imagery to animation over the past year, and as we demand speed and efficiency from everyday life (including brands), animation is the natural design progression.
Trends continually change, which demands other aspects of your business, such as branding, to keep up to date with them. Companies often rebrand to adapt to the latest trends and to also keep itself from looking outdated.
McDonalds, for example, has rebranded over the years to keep up with changing trends. More recently, it has rebranded to bold, colourful typography on minimalistic, modern packaging.
Yes, trends play an important part in design – of course they do. However, some companies don’t want to be influenced by trends. Instead, they want consistency and a creative design strategy that works best for them. As a company, you have the choice.
It’s tempting to stay in your comfort zone. To combat this, bringing in young, fresh talent is one way to refresh the creative department and also it brings in new styles and new ways of working.
Another thing you can do to combat a creative rut is to draw inspiration from different sources. Our advice is to follow and absorb everything you can. You can customise your social media channels to get inspiration straight to your fingertips. Pinterest is great for that!
Kristen Voisey
Creative Manager
Responsive Logos
For many brands, creating a responsive logo is an essential step to taking the stress out of rebranding.
Responsive logos aren’t new, in fact they’ve been revolutionsing creative design for the last ten years, and have now become an industry standard. Since mobile web browsing and also browsing on other devices took off, it became essential to have a fully adaptive design strategy and logo.
Graphic Designer Joe Harrison developed the responsive logo project back in 2014. This interactive project enables us to see how traditional logos would have to adapt for today’s multiple devices and various screen sizes. This works by simply applying responsive design principles to them.
The biggest and best brands have been rebranding to a responsive logo over the past few years, with other brands to follow as it is set to continue – it’s the next logical step in meeting the demands of consumers’ modern habits.
Well known companies such as Google and Disney have adopted responsive logos. This has meant they have been able respond to emerging trends faster, and have a constant streamlined and contemporary design strategy that cuts through the noise.
Where will it go next?
Creative design will always be a necessary part of any business and contributes massively to your brand identity. Creative design quickly adapts and paves the way for new trends, and when used effectively, it can help your brand grow and make a big impact on your audience.
It’s hard to predict the future of creative design as trends are constantly changing. Trends could literally go anywhere. They take influence from everything, be it other designers, fashion, architecture and so on.
It’s not just trends that influence creative design. More often than not, big brands pave the way for the latest design crazes, and smaller brands tend to follow.
When Apple and Google changed their design systems and brand marks to a flat design, other companies soon followed suit.
Matt Ansell
Creative Director
Creative design is vital to any business, as it’s the face of the company. However, it’s important to consider and carefully craft your company ethos to support your creative design.
Remember, branding is more than just the logo!
If you need help with your creative design strategy, you can contact us directly, or you can tweet us.