Five design decisions that make a small business look established
Customers judge how long you have been trading from what you hand them. None of what follows costs money; it costs decisions.
1. Have one logo file, and use it
Not a photograph of a sign, not a version someone pulled off Facebook, not three slightly different ones. One proper file, ideally vector, in colour, in white for dark backgrounds, and in black for one colour jobs. Keep them in one folder and send that folder to anyone who prints anything for you.
2. Two colours, everywhere
Pick a main colour and an accent, write down their CMYK, RGB and hex values, and use them on the van, the website, the invoice and the flyer. Nothing says "put together at the last minute" like three different blues across a business.
3. One typeface, two weights
A heavier weight for headings, a lighter one for text. That is enough for a business card, a letterhead and a leaflet. Two typefaces can work if someone knows what they are doing; three never do.
4. Leave space
The instinct is to fill the page, because the page cost money. Resist it. Margins and gaps are what make a layout look designed rather than assembled, and white space on a flyer is what lets the offer be seen at a glance.
5. Say the same thing everywhere
The same phone number, the same address format, the same way of describing what you do, on every piece. Customers cross check without noticing, and a mobile number on the van that does not match the one on the invoice plants a small doubt that is hard to remove.
The test
Put your business card, an invoice, a flyer and a photograph of your van on a table. Could a stranger tell they came from the same company without reading the name? If not, you have found the work, and it is smaller than it looks: usually one logo file and two colour values.
When you are ready to have it printed, our designers set artwork at no charge with every new order, so the same details can be carried across your business stationery, flyers and pull-up banners without you having to rebuild it each time.
