7 Reasons Why Design Is Important For Startups

When you decide to start up a business, you already have so much to think about. You need to consider the name, structure, financing, staffing, legalities and so much more.

And now, on top of all of that, we’re telling you that you’ve got to worry about creative design elements as well.

Well, hear us out, there are several very good reasons why design should not only be on your radar but it should be made a priority in the early stages.

We’re going to share these very good reasons with you in the guide below, so you can get your business off to the best possible start.

1. Making a good first impression

As a startup, you need to start making an impact right away and as we all know, first impressions count. Through images, graphics and colours, you can send an important message about what your company does, as well as your mission, vision and values.

This will include several different design elements, such as your logo, website, social media, advertising and more. But through these design elements, you can boost your chances of impressing your audience from day one.

Not only this, but you can also begin to build memorable images that help to keep your business in front of your customers (or potential customers) minds. This can be crucial for ensuring repeat custom and brand loyalty, but we’ll look at that in more detail later.

2. Standing out from the crowd

There has been a boom in startups over the last decade and when starting a business like this, it can feel like you’re up against a million other people.

That is exactly why it is so important to differentiate your startup right away and make sure you stand out from the crowd.

But how do you do that?

You need beautiful design elements like your logo, packaging and website, and if you get these just right, you can quickly make your brand more memorable. This will help you to stand out from those who are offering similar goods or services.

3. Building trust

Every image and every touch-point for your brand needs to be carefully thought out and created to motivate trust. This includes any images, colours and other important design elements that consumers may be engaging with.

In fact, almost half (48%) of people say that web design is the number one way they determine the credibility and trustworthiness of a business. So, when you’re trying to foster trust and therefore, repeat custom, you need to focus on engaging and creative design elements.

Consistency is also important for building trust, so you need to make sure that you use the same logo, colours, patterns, images, etc., to shape your startup’s visual identity and style. This consistency is a crucial factor in credibility and trust, and also helps to make your goods or services instantly recognisable.

4. Enhancing the customer experience

Images, logos and other designs have the ability to strengthen customer ties with your brand, which can help to boost their overall experience with your company.

For example, choosing simple but beautiful graphic design elements for your logo can make engaging with your brand feel far easier and it can also reflect the easy-going, simple nature of your goods or services.

Then, of course, you have crucial tools like your website. If these are meticulously thought out and designed, customers will have a better time using your webpages, whether that’s to make a purchase, book an appointment or just find out some key information.

All of this contributes to a better experience and enhances your chances of making a sale.

5. Beating out the competition

As we’ve already touched on, the market can feel saturated and the last thing you want to do is start up a business that gets lost in a sea of others that are just like it. This means you need to do all you can to beat out the competition.

By ensuring beautiful and consistent branding across all touch points, you already begin to gain your customer’s trust. This could be the difference between them choosing to buy from your business over others that are similar.

6. Improving your marketing opportunities

One of the most obvious, but also important reasons that you need to get your design elements right is to improve your marketing opportunities.

As a startup, one of the best ways for you to secure new customers, get your name out there are start growing your company is through marketing. This could be advertising, sharing to social media, your website, newsletters and so much more.

But no matter what your preferred techniques are, getting a detailed and strong design strategy in place can be the key to startup success.

Through careful planning and creation, designers can help you to convey crucial information, quickly. They can also ensure everything is consistent and help you to reach a wider audience of potential customers.

All of this will open you up to new marketing activities and more ways to convert customers to sales and help your business grow.

7. Increasing your earning potential

Finally, any creative designer worth their salt will think carefully about how each tiny detail looks and works, in order to convert prospects into customers.

It’s important to remember that the human attention span is not what it was a few decades ago and it is continuing to decrease all the time. Therefore, you need to give customers a strong but agile experience when engaging with your creative elements online.

This is what will convert them into a sale and increase your earning potential. That, and the fact that aesthetics play a huge part in our buying decisions. Different colours, fonts, shapes and other important elements will impact our emotions and therefore, our decision as to whether to buy something or not.

By carefully thinking through each aspect of your designs (or having a creative do this for you), you will immediately boost your chances of making a sale and bringing in more revenue.

Keeping all of these reasons in mind, can you now see why design is so important in startups? We certainly hope so.