What’s Possible With Professional Design?

If you’re considering hiring a professional designer, you probably already know that you need help with… well… design. 

You know that a designer may be able to help you with your overall brand, from your style guide to your fonts and colors. You know that a designer can help you create on-brand graphics, design offer materials, and even update your website to be in line with your standards.

But there’s so much more to working with a design partner than getting those deliverables in hand (and not having to do it yourself!). Professional design actually goes a lot deeper than the visuals. Let us explain.

Design goes deeper

Often, when people think about design, they only think about visuals. And while, yes, there are some designers out there who only look at the visuals and churn out graphics, the majority of trained design professionals will dig much deeper than that.

Rather than just looking at the visual element, a great designer gets to know your business, your people, and your goals — because they know that’s what gives your brand more kick.

The best designers know that your brand doesn’t exist in a silo. It’s a reflection of every element of your business, from how you work to the people you serve to the personality with which you deliver.

More than “just creating graphics,” a pro designer can help you show up. Help you feel more confident in the products and services you offer. Lead your team with clear direction and guide your clients to success. Share your amazing offers, build a loyal audience, and (duh) make some money!

When you’re ready to work with a professional designer, you’ll see more benefits than just on-brand graphics. It goes a lot further than that. Below, we’re sharing just a few more of the benefits of working with a designer — ones you probably didn’t think about.

You’ll save plenty of time and energy

Have you ever thought about how much time and energy you’ve devoted to menial design tasks — like wondering if your brand colors match? To left-align or center-align a block of text? 

It sounds like a total no-brainer to hire out design to folks who are way faster than you. But design help isn’t just about getting the actual deliverables off your plates so you can put more time back on it. It’s about freeing up precious brain space.

So many business owners don’t realize that they’ve been experiencing decision fatigue until they recruit the help of a design pro. They realize that it goes way beyond trying to create graphics. Instead, they’ve been using too much brain juice, trying to make educated decisions that aren’t in their interests (or zone of genius). It weighs them down, leaving room for little else. 

With a pro designer, you have someone in your back pocket, ready to do it for you. With that comes more brain space to make important CEO decisions for your business. Like what to eat for lunch or when to wash your hair. 

You’ll get back to your zone of genius

You know that delegating the work you don’t enjoy is important if you want to grow your business. At least, that’s what “the gurus” say. And with the right design help, you will be able to delegate so you can get back to your most important work — the work only you can do.

But there’s something else to be said about having a designer help you focus on your work: The confidence. Great design will help you feel 10x more confident about showing up in your business every day. You’ll be better equipped to show off your business to the world and feel comfortable knowing it looks good.

You won’t have to second-guess if your feed looks good enough for you to pop on an IG live or post a quick Reel (without it ruining the aesthetics). You’ll be excited to show off your offers because you know your landing page is accessible, easy to navigate, and looks a hell of a lot better than DIYing it.

Bottom line? You’ll have the assets you need to share more about your offers while supporting the brilliance behind them. 

Your brand will look cohesive but unique

You want to work with a designer because you don’t want a brand that looks like everyone else’s. You know that you’ve been piece-mealing things for too long, and it feels like things are all over the place. And you’re O-V-E-R seeing everyone use the same Canva templates but aren’t sure if your own will cut it.

Maybe your brand has good bones, or maybe it has no bones at all, but either way, design pros can make sure your brand, new or not, doesn’t feel disjointed, disconnected, and just like another IG trend. 

Beyond cohesive visuals, though, a good designer will help you up the ante by adding variety to your brand to build a cohesive brand environment that looks and feels right.  

They’ll get to know your business and your offers, so they can create rules and hierarchy that govern your brand — from the way PDFs should be formatted down to how your Instagram carousels should look — giving your brand the consistent edge it needs to survive in the online space.

Working with a design pro, you can pull together these decisions to turn them into brand standards. Because you know all their decisions are sound and rely on their expertise and extensive research, you know anything you create moving forward will be exactly what you want it to be.

That backlog of work your team is always dreading? Yeah, you can kiss that goodbye. Why? Because you’ll have something that sticks and becomes a working part of your business (hint: that’s your brand style guide). 

Visuals will be on point, but more than that, you’ll have a framework for any future decisions.

You’ll have someone to bring your ideas to life 

You’ve got the big ideas, you just aren’t sure how to implement them. A designer can help you make the graphics you need to promote your ideas, design the courses or PDFs to share with your audience, and create ads or materials you need to reach more people.

That’s our job as pro designers… visually speaking, anyways. Pro designers can make your ideas better — i.e. more readable, more intriguing, and more accessible — by incorporating the brand standards and governing rules they (or another brand strategist) has created.

But what a really good designer can help you do is translate ideas that feel loose and unstructured into something tangible you can make money with, whether that’s a product or simply a social media post. We can help you evoke a feeling or really drive home a point that’s incredibly important.

We also take those ideas and turn them into something that makes sense to your audience. Even if you’ve got the next million-dollar idea, if you have chaotic branding that feels a little more like a pile of mismatched socks at the bottom of your drawer than a professional brand, you’re doing your business a disservice.

We’re not saying design is like duct tape — it can’t fix everything. But it sure does help make your best ideas look even brighter.

You’ll feel professional (and fancy) AF

Looks aren’t everything, but in business, they matter. You know that. We know that. A solid brand with appealing, cohesive visuals will help you earn the trust you need to turn your audience into lifelong clients and customers. 

DIY design has a time and a place, but as with anything in life, you have to know when to ask for help. Sure, a handmade brand can help you get off the ground for a little while, but having a pro designer around helps you look like you have your shit together (aka you know what you’re doing with your systems, processes, delivery, client relations, and team).

Professional design doesn’t just make you look more professional, though. It makes you feel that way, too. We’ve heard from clients that having a professionally designed brand and assets made them more confident in their pitches, like they could close that big client contract, and just generally more secure in their place in their industry. 

That’s the kind of confidence we’re here for — and the kind of support that helps people reach new levels. We like to think of it like a killer new haircut. It’s not just about how the new cut makes you look. It’s about how investing in yourself makes you feel.

The same goes for your brand!

Want to open new doors for your business? Let’s start designing.

You’ve already got a really in-depth idea of what design can do for your business. But honestly, most people underestimate the far-reaching impacts that great design can truly have — on their offers, their audience, and even themselves.

Your business is going to be around for a while. Investing in your brand and great design means believing in your idea and positioning yourself as a legit business. It means tapping into all of the benefits we mentioned above — and more.

We might be partial, but we think it’s one of the best investments you can make for your business.

Still, we hear a lot of business owners say that they shouldn’t hire help with their brand because they aren’t ready to commit to a professional designer yet. The truth? Branding and design are the foundation of everything else you do in your biz. 

Your copy. Your social media graphics. Your product listings. Even your customer service. The way YOU show up as the CEO or leader.

Hiring a brand strategist and designer to make your brand look its best from the inside out means you’re ready to take it to the next level — and to show the world what your business is really capable of.

If that sounds like the design support you’re down for, our Style Guide services might be right for you. 

Our Style Guide service include:

Brand development

• A client persona summary to serve as your guidepost, ensuring all decisions resonate with your audience. 
• A mood board that provides all the “vibes” of your brand and guides all your design decision-making.

Brand essentials

• Logo and guidelines on how to use your brand and maintain its integrity.
• Brand colors and ideal color combinations so you’re never stuck worrying about what looks best together.
• Brand fonts, type styles, and type combinations so you can easily plug and play your message into tried-and-true designs.

Brand environment

• Graphic styles (like icons, shops, patterns, and textures) so you have design elements that can easily be employed across your brand.
• Photography styles to ensure your style and values are showcased through imagery.
• Practical guidelines for using and combining all of these elements together effortlessly so you can feel empowered to execute your branding every day

Support to execution 

• A jam-packed folder of brand graphics in web, print, and editable file formats so you never have to rely on a designer to bring simple ideas to life.
• Tutorials to show you how to make the most of your design elements.
• 3- and 6-month check-ins to make sure your final files and style guide are supporting you fully.
• A brand launch guide to get the ball rolling and actually show off your new brand. We’ll show you how to transition to your new look.

If you choose us to design your brand and create your Style Guide, you also get access to our other services, including our Design Day and our Showit web design services.

Ready to unlock new potential with your branding & design?