The Top 5 Types Of Graphic Design
Let’s Demystify the World of Graphic Design
Design is everything from the physical to the digital to everywhere in between. There is a lot more to graphic design than a stunning website or stand-out business cards. These are just smaller elements of larger categories. To fully understand the world of graphic design, we must break it down into 11 parts:
1. Branding/Visual Identity
Everyone has their own unique story to tell—from individuals to small businesses to large corporations. Once these stories are crafted, it’s time to give them a voice. That’s where a graphic designer comes in. They work with the client to develop a visual representation of their brand (their brand identity) in order to breathe life into their story, bringing shapes, colors and images into the narrative. Through the careful use of imagery, they hope to leave a lasting impression of the brand in the mind of the audience.
2. Advertising & Marketing Design
We are constantly bombarded with marketing campaigns everywhere we go. We see them on television, when we watch an online video, when we pick up a newspaper and when we are scrolling through Facebook. We’ve been exposed to the good and the bad, even if we are so accustomed to campaigns that we don’t consciously label them outright. When we see a great ad, we know it’s good because we are quick to hit the “shop” or “buy now” button. That is the measure of an effective marketing campaign.
3. Digital Design
Digital design refers specifically to that which is created and produced to be viewed on a screen. This can encompass many different types of design, from UI (user interface found on websites, games and apps) to 3D modeling. A digital designer concerns themselves with the visual elements of your digital experience. Things like the size, color and placement of buttons all fall under their purview. They will often work hand in hand with UI developers who write the code that makes the programs work.
4. Product Design
Product designers orchestrate the entire design process for products. There are six types of product designers:
Interaction or UX Designers that understand how apps interact with consumer needs
Graphic or Visual Designers that create images and the user interface
User Researchers that understand the minds of your customers
Data Analysts that test products and use that information and data to inform the end product
Prototypers that can implement and test ideas as cheap and fast as possible
Business Strategists that analyze the strategy behind every design decision
These are all individual roles, but a good product designer understands each avenue. These designers help you deliver on your brand. If your branding team promises a professional and compassionate experience, your product designer ensures that your clients get it. It’s one thing to have a good product, but if you can’t deliver on what you’re promising your audience, you are only hurting yourself.
4. Editorial/Publishing
One of the more common types of graphic design is editorial design, which deals with publications such as books and magazines. Publication designers create layouts, covers and graphics for editorials in order to convey the author’s vision and message for their work. With the rise of online publishing, editorial designers aren’t limited to working on print media either. Online newspapers, magazines and ebooks all require somebody to design the layout, covers, editorials and graphics as well.
5. Packaging
Packaging is both the most visible and invisible aspect of any product design. It is a practical element that can make a huge impact on the product’s viability in the market. Changing packaging design can be an essential element of a rebranding or it can be part of what attracts clients to your product. Packaging design alone often has the potential to propel a company ahead of its competitors or it can be the final nail in their metaphorical coffin.
Digital marketing trends in 2022: how to tap into them
Digital marketing trends tend to evolve quickly in our industry, so Digital Ethos’s digital PR and copywriting consultant Lucinda Batchelor has drawn out the most important ones to focus on now for transformational growth.
Digital marketing is one of the world’s fastest-growing kinds of marketing. You can utilize digital marketing to target specialized markets, allowing you to reach out to customers who may not have previously considered your company. Fast-growing also means ever changing and evolving.
We’ve outlined three trends in digital marketing that we will see more of in 2022 to help you stay with the times and adapt to consumers’ wants and needs.
Using featured snippets
Long gone are the days where we turn to books to find the answer to our questions. Instead we turn to Google, which has grown to become the world’s biggest search engine with 1.2tn searches processed annually.
Featured snippets provide direct answers to user questions. Google’s featured snippets are the answers that Google highlights in a box at the top of the organic results on the search results page; also known as ‘Position Zero’ in the rankings.
For example, if you were to search ‘top 10 best restaurants in London’, the answer will be suggested to us in a paragraph box at the top of the result page. These boxes often come with an image and all the information we’re looking for displayed in an easy-to-read box.
In the case of our restaurant query, we’re offered a map of central London and a small selection of restaurants rated 4+ stars with their price range, style, address and opening times all available to see at the click of a button. There’s also an option to view more restaurants by clicking a ‘view all’ tab – meaning there is no need to go hunting through articles below to find what we’re looking for.
If a search engine includes information displayed on your website in a Position Zero box, it indicates that the content you offer is worth reading. All that needs including is attention-grabbing information in these snippets to lead them away from the box and to entice them to explore more content on your website.
Utilize visual content
Create a dominance of visual content in your strategies. These can include images, videos, gifs, memes and animations in order to stand out to users.
Visual content has the power to cement your brand’s identity in consumers’ minds for a longer period compared to text. It is also easier to communicate complex ideas via visuals than the written word.
Visual search is now bigger than ever. Pinterest, Google Lens and many e-commerce platforms now allow customers to search by uploading an image. To make the cut in these searches you’ve got to populate your content bank with high-quality and brand-relevant visuals.
Why not repurpose your blogs into video content and infographics with the same keywords and tags? This way search engines can reach them easily, they are easier to digest and it also helps with SEO.
The key is personalization
While every consumer values privacy, they also favor personalization too. Personalized campaigns see a higher rate of engagement, conversions and glowing reviews from consumers. The key is to allow customers to opt-in for data tracking and analysis so they are aware of how their data is being used.
This 2022 digital marketing trend holds the potential to make your brand’s marketing campaigns go viral. Consider Spotify Wrapped, for example – every customer gets unique, tailored, personalized content. #SpotifyWrapped also trends worldwide at the end of every year, with millions of social media users sharing the results with their followers.
Personalized campaigns often rely on data analysis software, insight tools and customer data, but it’s important not to forget the role of design. Even in personalized campaigns, customers expect branding consistency in design and your answer to this is pre-designed templates. Having these at hand helps you save time, ensure branding consistency and save costs on redesigns.
What Are Progressive Web Apps (PWAs)?
Progressive web apps (PWAs) are a particular type of web app that is fairly modern in the digital world. PWAs combine desirable features of both native and hybrid apps.
Like any web app should, PWAs reside in a web browser. Users can access PWAs there like any website. Still, having a PWA means going through the classic download and install process that users expect with mobile apps. But this is a good thing as PWAs can always be readily available from the user’s device.
Both the Google Play Store and the Microsoft Store welcome PWAs to their platform. So in some ways, a PWA is like a mobile app.
Progressive web apps launch from a user’s device without the need to open a web browser first and they can send push notifications directly to your mobile device. They can also work offline and load in a jiffy.
According to Frances Barriman and Alex Russell, the original Google engineers who gave PWAs their name, PWAs fit the following criteria:
- responsive
- connectivity independent
- app-like interactions
- fresh
- safe
- discoverable
- re-engagable
- installable
- linkable
What makes PWAs so alluring is their performance. A concept like web apps should be alluring in itself because of its cross-platform capabilities.
But in reality, most everyone in the software development industry believe web apps and hybrid apps have slower performance than native apps.
Progressive web apps defy this stereotype. Though it is important to keep in mind that PWAs do not intend to take mobile apps’ role.
No, PWAs are best defined as traditional websites in mobile app packaging. In this way, they are not as interactive as a conventional web app nor as boring or inaccessible as a standard website.
PWAs are unique in standing; they break the mold of what a web visitor or smartphone user anticipates.
Digital Marketing
UI & UX DESIGN
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3 Reasons Construction Companies Need to Digitally Transform Now
- Digital Marketing Means Targeted Marketing
One of the drawbacks of traditional construction marketing strategies, like direct mail or billboard ads, is that it’s like using a shotgun for hunting. You’ll cover a wide area but you may not hit your preferred target. With digital marketing, such as Facebook Advertising, for example, you can target down to occupation, location, age-range, and a variety of other demographics.
If a construction company begins advertising on a search engine, they can even find customers who are actively looking for their services. A billboard may reach more eyes, but how many of those will be the eyes of interested parties?
2. Digital Marketing is Measurable
Let’s go back to our billboard example. If a construction company buys an ad on a billboard, there’s no way for that company to know exactly how much revenue should be attributed to the ad. With digital marketing, whether it be email marketing campaigns or search engine advertising, you can track so much valuable data and statistics, it’s enough to make a baseball nerd drool.
If our construction company above converted their billboard ad into a web banner ad, they could track exactly how many eyeballs landed on their ad (a stat called impressions) and how many of those eyeballs turned into qualified leads. They could then measure just how many of those qualified leads turned into closed deals.
3. Digital Marketing Builds Brand Equity and Loyalty
For a lot of construction companies, word-of-mouth referrals are a big part of generating business. Today, conversations and discourse online are the new form of word-of-mouth referrals. Just think of Google Reviews, I know I’m not the only one that rules out a business if it has less than 3 stars. Unlike real-life word-of-mouth, which disappears after the referral, online reviews and testimonials live on forever and encourage prospects to trust you.
Creating an online presence through social media, a well-built website, and email marketing can create the same word-of-mouth effect. It allows your company to be shared and tagged to potential customers and it allows companies to highlight their best work.