When it comes to design, you need the people on your team to be in the know. That doesn’t just mean hiring people that can execute the vision you have in your own mind, it means hiring people that know about design trends and best practices and will push back on you when their expertise tells them that your vision isn’t quite where it should be.
There are plenty of things you’re good at. It’s how you reached this point! Your organization has a lot to offer other business, which is why you’re marketing to them in the first place. You’ve found success because you know your chosen niche is one that you can fill better than anyone. However, with this success can come a sort of blindness. You may find yourself thinking that you know best in all aspects of your organization just because you were there since the inception, but that isn’t the case. Even though you fill that niche and you have a lot to offer, the design work that you did with default templates and an uninspired color palette was merely getting you by. It wasn’t doing anything to push you and your ideas further.
That’s why you hired designers. (You did hire designers, right?) They’re not just a tool, they’re valuable members of your team; who have a specific focus and knowledge that you don’t have… Sorry, but unless you studied design specifically, you simply can’t measure up, no matter how much better you think you know than them. That’s tough love, kids, and you need to hear it.
What’s #Trending?
Pastels, vintage medicine labels, crystals and glass; all of these are recent design trends that are resonating with consumers in 2022. Putting any of these elements in your
messaging or graphics is more likely to grab and maintain interest. Did you know that? If you have a good designer, they probably did. There are design elements they might be excited to use, but they’re not being given enough trust to give them a shot. This is not to say that you should abandon your design ideas entirely, but you can’t allow your own vision to stand in the way of what a great team can do together. Remember, you are a team, and you brought them on board because of their expertise in this area.
You’re Pushing Back On Basics
This whole piece is about relinquishing control for the betterment of your organization, and that means recognizing that you don’t know it all. You may think that something
looks fine, but at the end of the day, it’s always going to be about best practices. Do you know how white space affects your email design? Do your graphics have enough movement? How is contrast playing a role in your email and landing page layouts? These are questions your designers are going to be able to answer, and their responses can shape stronger designs going forward. You might think that your designs and copy are somehow not filling the correct space, or that they look better with some colors as opposed to others, but in your quest to realize your vision, you could be shooting yourself in the foot.
Time Is NOT On Your Side
When it comes to design for your marketing materials, you need to remember the number 8. Why 8? Because according to a study by the Technical University of Denmark, that’s the
number of seconds the modern human mind is willing to spare in the form of an attention span. 8 seconds. It seems like an impossible ask, but a good designer can grab that attention and hold onto it for longer. Your design team is going to know all the tricks for your marketing to grab the eye and hold it there, so you need to make sure you’re trusting them, and not clipping their wings by insisting on having things your way.
