10 Things Marketers Can Learn from Graphic Design

Marketers and graphic designers are always working together to create, promote and distribute content. Marketing and graphic design are so closely linked that neither can work without the other. Especially when it comes to working with clients that need experts to sell their services and products.

Even though the marketer and graphic designer do different things in the day to day, it’s good for them to know some basic things about the other’s industry. 

Today we’ll be looking at 10 things marketers can learn from graphic design.

1. The importance of good visuals

First and foremost, marketers should be aware that all the visuals used in their strategy need to be planned and executed to a high standard. Designers use all their knowledge of good design plus the client’s brand assets to create the visuals for the marketer’s strategy. 

An amazing marketing scheme will not convert if the visuals are not as good as they need to be.

2. First Impressions

Following how important good visuals are, so are first impressions. The visuals for a marketing strategy must grab the attention of the viewer quickly to properly tell the intended story of the campaign.

If there is no positive first impression of the visual design, the viewer will not pay more attention to it and the lead will be lost.

3. Visual Branding

Every designer knows that a company’s visual branding is a large part of all visual assets created for a marketing campaign. If marketers don’t work side by side with a graphic designer, it can be easy to forget this part of the process.

The brand’s visual story must be part of every single piece of visual content, from videos to printed flyers.

4. Color Psychology

Marketers need to know the basics of color psychology to be able to communicate feelings and emotions through design. Every color has different perceptions, both positive and negative depending on the tonality of the color. 

In many cases, color psychology is dependent on culture. This is greatly important for marketers so they don’t create strategies that don’t fit with their intended audience.

5. Font Psychology

Just like color psychology, font psychology is important for every visual that includes text. Knowing what type and style of font to use for a project is not as easy as it may seem at first. There are some fonts that have so much history, that using them without care can take any marketing strategy in the wrong direction.

6. Gestalt Principles

Of all the tools that graphic designers use on a daily basis, gestalt principles are some of the most important. The six gestalt principles of design are:

• similarity
• continuation
• closure
• proximity
• figure/ground
• symmetry & order

These principles work like visual rules for putting elements together in balanced compositions. By knowing these principles, marketers can better analyze the competition and think of new ideas.

7. Visual Hierarchy

Similar to gestalt principles, the rules of the visual hierarchy are an important design aspect that can help marketers ideate campaigns for clients. Visual hierarchy is extremely important for every single type of visual design. 

The main idea is that every element in a composition has an ordered purpose from most important to least important. The way the designer applies these rules is by giving visual importance to things like titles and slogans, or catchy images and calls to action.

8. Minimalism

Of all design movements, the one that all marketers should know is minimalism. This design style is all about the premise of “less is more”. The idea is to only use what is absolutely necessary to get the point across and take away all the extra.

When a marketers knows how to tap into a minimalist design mindset, their strategies and campaigns can be streamlined and more than likely successful.

9. Sight Lines

Sight lines are an underrated graphic design principle that marketers can also get some value from. The main idea is that the human eye travels always in the same direction when reading a text or visual with text. Also that people will inherently follow imaginary (or obvious) lines set up for them in a design.

Websites for example are designed according to sight lines in F and Z shapes.

10. Using the right tools

Last but not least, it will always help a marketer to know what tools designers use to create all the visuals that will make up a campaign or marketing strategy. They don’t necessarily need to know how to use the tools, but should definitely know the names. 

Marketers need to be able to communicate with designers on an even playing field, the best campaigns are created as a team that understands each other.

Last Thoughts

When marketers and graphic designers learn from each other, they can reach higher levels of collaboration. This leads to better communication and a better workflow. Are you a marketer? Did you know any of the things in the list above? Share in the comments.