Graphics Design Agency Chicago

Graphics design agencies in Chicago offer a variety of creative services to help clients reach their marketing and branding goals. Some of these services include packaging design, logo design, and web design. Others include SEO, social media management, and video production. Some also offer photography and infographics. Some have experience working with companies such as Hyatt, Quantum, and Coca-Cola.

There are many benefits to using a graphics design agency. Not only will they help you create a logo, but they can also create business cards, letterheads, infographics, and more. These services are essential to a company's brand identity and web presence. Without a solid graphic design strategy, your digital marketing project will fall flat.

Studio/lab offers graphic design and strategy services to Chicago-based companies. Whether it's developing a website, a brochure, or a television commercial, this agency's team of designers can help you make the most of your marketing budget. Studio/lab also provides post-production services and has experience with digital, print, and social media. They have also worked with the Goodman Theatre, a local cultural institution.

One Tree Forest Films, which launched in 2009, offers branding, media production, and creative services for small businesses. Its motion graphics team uses 2D and 3D techniques to tell a brand's story. One Tree Forest Films also offers logo and image design and production services. The agency's clients include American Family Insurance and Northern Trust.

VerdanaBold is another Chicago-based graphics design agency. This agency specializes in branding and creating interactive, memorable digital tools. Its team of designers and strategists work with clients to create a cohesive brand identity and experience. The company also offers ongoing training for its clients on visual content and brand language.

Several boutique graphic design agencies have offices in the Chicago area. They represent a variety of clients and offer a variety of services, including branding, packaging solutions, and advertising strategies. In addition to traditional design services, they provide digital solutions including website development, email marketing, and digital presentations. The agency's mission is to help clients reach their marketing and branding goals.

Some of the more renowned firms in the city offer a wide variety of services. For example, Fuzzy Math specializes in user experience (UX) design and helps clients develop digital products and services that engage users. The firm's experience-focused services also allow it to provide services that set up businesses for growth. Another good example of an agency is UX 4Sight. This company offers custom website and app development for various industries.

 

How to Launch a Graphic Design Studio

 

If you're interested in launching your own graphic design studio, you'll need to choose a business structure that suits your needs. The most common business structures are a sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. In any case, it's important to choose a legal business structure that will protect you from personal liability. Most businesses that run out of a physical space need a CO, or Certificate of Occupancy. This document confirms that the space meets government regulations, building codes, and zoning laws. A CO is obtained from your landlord. It's important to understand that major renovations might require a new CO. If this is the case, make sure your lease has provisions that allow you to delay payment until you've obtained a new CO.

While many graphic design studios specialize in a single service, many offer a variety of creative options to fit the needs of your business. For example, a typotherapy studio will focus on the use of typeface to create a brand's identity. The studio will work with you to create a brand identity that is both creative and functional, and will make it stand out amongst the crowd.

The Graphic Design Studio software lets you create a variety of designs and vector graphics. It supports a variety of image formats, including SVG, PDF, PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, GIFF, and EPS. It also allows you to scale your designs without losing their sharpness. The software can even be used to create a transparent background to help your designs stand out.

A graphic design studio can help you create an effective, unique brand identity that can help increase your sales and brand awareness. Whether it's a print advertisement in a magazine, a direct mail marketing campaign, or an informational brochure, a high-quality graphic design can enhance any type of marketing material and increase brand awareness. A good agency will be able to handle all of your graphic design needs, from digital to print design.

When choosing a graphic design studio, look for a company that has a stable, long-term working environment. Agencies usually have experienced designers who can mentor new designers. This experience can be invaluable in the long run, and the quality of your design work will be higher. You should also look for a design studio that offers flexible hours and a full-time staff of graphic designers.

 

Bore-proof your website! 5 website design tips for service providers to spice it up + increase conversions

 

Websites can be an absolute beast but it is considered one of the most important marketing tools for service providers. Whether you’re a coach, interior designer, copywriter, consultant, hair stylist, bookkeeper, strategist, or someone offering some kind of service to people - you fall under the category of a service provider and that means your website works for you even while you sleep! Or so it should. Have you been looking at your website lately and feeling blah? Bored? Does your website feel uninteresting and unattractive to you like it lacks something? Something that you can’t quite place a finger on? If you are nodding your head, then there’s a fat chance that your target audience (those super dreamy clients!) is feeling the same way when they land on your website.

Not getting the right vibe from a service provider's website can be a huge reason for potential clients to bounce and that’s bad news :(

Nope! Let’s not let that happen, shall we? Let’s bore-proof your website right away. Read on to uncover 5 website design tips for service providers to spice up your biggest marketing tool + increase conversions while you’re at it! So let’s get started.

 

1. Play with words

One of the top website design tips to spice up your boring website is to focus on the words you’re using. Website copy plays a really important role in pulling in your visitors. If you are a service provider who wants your website visitors to get attracted to your brand and take an interest in your services, start with your copy. 

Replace boring, jargon words with personality-packed words that do a good job of piquing the interest of the website visitors. You do not have to go overboard with a whole lot of text to make this happen. Stay on point with your messaging. Use words that your ideal clients can easily understand. Another great website design tip here is to create sections making your content scannable. No one really has the time to go through each word, so make sure that people can skim through the content and wherever possible add relevant imagery and/or graphic elements to support the words. Just adding some freshness to your copy will spice up your website and increase conversions!

BONUS website design tip: while we’re still talking about words, peppering your website pages with strategically chosen SEO keywords truly boosts conversions. To choose keywords when designing websites for my service provider clients, my all-time favorite tools are Google keyword planner and Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. Happy word-sciencing!

You might also like: The one page on your website that opens wallets + how to make it promising!

2. Make your CTA’s interesting

This website design tip kind of piggybacks off the last one. A CTA is a call to action which you normally find in a button or link form all throughout the website’s pages. Your visitors use these CTA’s to engage with your website, view different pages, see your offerings, download content, and even book introductory calls with you. As a service provider, one thing that you definitely should do is - add clear and actionable CTA’s wherever applicable across your entire website. Next, swap boring CTA’s with catchy and interesting CTA’s. What this does is, it adds an element of freshness to your website that makes you stand out from the other service providers in your niche (trust me, these little details psychologically make a big difference in the minds of your audience when it comes to choosing one service provider over the other!).

To see examples of interesting non-boring CTA’s, head over to digital marketing queen Jenna Kutcher’s website and see how she does it. Now, who wouldn’t want to click on those buttons and links?

3. Use your branding elements

People visit a ton of websites each day to get their dose of content like reading blogs, and looking at services offered by service providers is another reason people why visit different websites to land on the one they connect with. A plain and boring website is a definite no-no in today’s world where attention spans are quite short. Number 3 on this list of website design tips is to use your branding elements creatively. By doing so you will be able to create a strong visual appeal. When visitors see a well-done, consistent website that is easy to navigate and beautiful to look at, they instantly get an impression of professionalism and trustworthiness. Your website’s job to offer a seamless experience to your visitors is done! The rest of the work that is increasing conversions - is done by the content on your website which we have discussed in-depth above.

This website design tip is geared towards making your website as appealing to the eyes as possible with the use of a high-resolution logo design. You can add your logo mark to the footer section and also overlay it on an image you’re using on your website. Your brand pattern and graphic elements can be used as section backgrounds to create an interesting statement and direct the visitors' attention to important information. Don’t have a strategic, consistent brand identity design for your brand? Check out how I can help you!

 

4. Use your brand colors creatively

Another good one in this list of website design tips for service providers is colors! As interesting as it sounds, sometimes this is the area where service providers don’t get creative. When I’m designing websites for my service provider clients, I develop a brand color palette that I then go on to use creatively in the website design process. I create a palette consisting of 5 colors ranging from a primary dark color to a soft color for backgrounds. The idea behind having a brand color palette in website design is to mix it up in a way to create interesting, high-contrast, visually appealing sections that catch the attention of the visitors. By making good use of colors, you can bore-proof your website and spice it up! 

A good rule of thumb is to design each section of your website with colors being used in a 60-30-10 ratio. One color should be dominant followed by another one that is used in a lesser ratio, and finally if necessary for example you have a button that needs highlighting - use the final color for such purposes.

Take a look at how I used colors to make this health and transformational coach’s webpages pop.

So go ahead, play with your brand colors but remember to stay consistent, and use a lot of whitespace!

5. Add movement to your website

It’s the law of nature. Our human attention naturally gravitates toward things that are moving more than the ones that are still. This same concept applies to the world of the web. This brings me to the last of my website design tips for this post. Wherever applicable and appropriate, do add some movement to your web pages. Movement can be in the form of animated buttons, sections that reveal on scroll, gif images, background video, etc. Making dynamic web pages does not mean that you have to animate each and every bit of every page. That kind of overdone work can put visitors off rather than increase conversions. So be mindful of how you make your website dynamic. Remember, even subtle movement can go a long way in making your website go from boring to super interesting. So add some animation to spice up those flat-laying web pages!

CONCLUSION

Hope these easy, actionable website design tips help you move your take your brand and website beyond the ordinary to the next level and also help attract dream clients increasing conversions for your service-based business! If you’ve been looking for a website designer to partner up with to design a cohesive online presence for your service-based business, I’d love to chat with you! Book a complimentary discovery call with me :)

 

Your service brand’s logo: 4 tips to use it to stand out

You’ve heard this a million times. But let’s call it out clearly. Your brand’s logo is a key visual piece that is the face of your business. It is a visual touch point that helps your current and future audience perceive your business, relate to, and also recognize it.

Through this article, I want to share 4 tips with you on how you can use your brand’s logo efficiently and effectively so as to stand out when your target audience comes across your business and is ready to hire. Alright then, let’s go!

Attract with a story-based logo design

We’ve all been there. We have all wondered what the big company logos mean, signify, and represent. And once we found out the meaning and story behind the company logos, we started relating to them much more on an emotional level than we ever did. Be it the super-loved coffee brand Starbucks, the tech industry disrupter Apple, Amazon that redefined the definition of eCommerce, or the world’s largest ice-cream chain Baskin Robbins; they all have meaningful, story-based logos.

The point I’m trying to make here is that you can take cues from these big company logos. Make sure that your brand’s logo is not some generic pretty looking design but rather a custom design that reflects your story/values/work in a neat and simple way. This timeless piece of visual design sparks curiosity in your target audience’s minds. Address this curiosity by sharing the meaning behind your brand’s logo design wherever you feel it is appropriate like your website or social media. This is an interesting way to uniquely stand out in your own industry!

You might also like: 3 step formula to craft your founder’s story and stand out

2. use your brand’s logo consistently

If you worked with a professional brand identity designer for your brand’s logo design, you most likely received a complete logo package with all the versions of your brand’s logo as a deliverable of the service along with education on how to use them. Each version is designed for a specific use case and to effectively brand your service business I want to emphasize one thing - use each version of your brand’s logo very consistently.

For example, your main logo is the primary visual representation that must be used most often in all places that your brand shows up like your website, brand collateral, invoices, contracts, and marketing material both digital and print. Only in really small spaces like social media profile images, small print merchandise, etc should you use the secondary version of your brand’s logo also known as the logo mark.

By following these easy rules and caring about how your brand shows up, you increase the memorability of your brand’s logo in the minds of your target audience helping them relate to your brand better. That is one of the ways you can stand out as a professional service provider.

3. get creative with print media

So you have a professionally designed, meaningful, timeless logo design that you love! You have it perched proudly at the top of your website, on your various social media profiles, and on a few other branded collateral. But what more can you do with it? So much more!

Promote brand awareness, a positive brand association, and increase memorability in the minds of your target audience by using your brand’s logo on merchandise. Get creative with print media! For yourself, branded merchandise can be really cool props for your brand photoshoots! When marketing your service business, Vistaprint has a ton of options to print swag with your brand’s logo on merchandise. Even when sending gifts to your clients, branded merchandise can be a really fun and creative way to stand out. Online gifting portals like Greetabl allow you to add your brand’s logo to make a gift personalized and OnGoody offers custom printing on branded merchandise for gifting to clients. Super fun!

Here’s an example of one of my interior designer clients Dan Rak Design flaunting their brand’s logo mark that I designed for them on tees that their team wears when they go for installations. It gives their brand a much more professional and consistent feel.

4. use your brand’s logo on every touch point

You’re running a service business so it’s highly likely that you’re creating content on a regular basis for brand awareness, getting your name out, reaching more target audiences, making connections, getting more leads, and on a high level - staying on top of mind. Whether it is creating graphics for social media, your business card, or marketing material for a podcast that you host, everything that leads your target audience to your brand is a touch point. And so, adding your brand’s face/brand’s logo to each entry point or touch point is another way to stand out in a high-quality, professional manner.

CONCLUSION

You’re doing the hard work each day, every day and your business deserves to reach the dream next level. If you feel like your brand and website design lacks the special sauce that will help you stand out in your industry and confidently attract ideal clients, let's chat about creating strategic branding and website design for you.

 

How to Market a Graphic Design Company

If you are looking for a design agency that is known for its innovative and creative approach, you may want to consider a company called Re-public. This company has been in business since 1999, and has clients in Denmark, Mexico, and China. In addition to their impressive portfolio of projects, they have won many awards for their work, including the German Design Awards, Creative Circle Awards, and Red Dot Design. Another detail-oriented design firm is Essen. Founded in 1980, Essen offers conceptually intelligent and colorful designs for a variety of clients.

Before you begin your business, you'll need to decide on the best marketing strategy for your company. A marketing strategy will determine how to target customers and gauge its success. You will also need to determine the size and scope of your market and develop short and long-term goals, as well as measure your progress. Listed below are a few tips for marketing your graphic design company. When launching your business, don't be afraid to use your existing connections and reach out to potential customers.

A great graphic design company in Chicago will be able to incorporate your company's corporate identity elements into its marketing plan. A logo or a letterhead is an effective way to draw attention to a product, while a stylish package is another way to attract attention. Incorporate these elements into your brand identity and you'll be on your way to success. A graphic designer won't only design your business's logo and colors, but will also develop your company's fonts. This is another important aspect of your marketing strategy, and is almost independent of fashion trends.