It’s a competitive world out there, no matter what industry you’re in.
For that reason, brands everywhere are constantly looking for ways to stand out, whether it’s through their ads, their tone of voice, their customer engagement strategies, or, most commonly, their approach to design and visual identity.
But standing out in a crowd is no small feat! It requires creativity, strategy, and just the right kind of design.
So, if you’re a marketer looking to find that perfect way to make your visuals “pop,” then this is the blog for you!
We’re taking a page out of graphic design and branding expert Jacob Cass's creative process and walking you through his top 10 design principles for visuals that not only command attention but communicate your value in a way that your audience will love!
Let’s get started!
Why Your Visual Identity Matters
Your visual identity is the face of your brand and everything about it is going to determine how your customers see you, interact with you, and — most importantly — if they’re going to remember you in a crowded market full of your competitors.
If you need any more compelling reasons than that, here are a few just off the top of our heads:
- First Impressions — Your visuals are usually the first point of contact between your brand and your potential customers. A strong and consistent visual identity makes a positive and lasting first impression, which is essential for attracting and retaining customers.
- Brand Recognition — Consistent use of specific colors, fonts, logos, and imagery helps build up your brand recognition. Over time, these visual elements become synonymous with your brand, making it easier for your customers to identify your products or services.
- Emotional Connection — Your visuals have the power to evoke the emotions and feelings you want your audience to associate with you. A well-crafted visual identity creates an emotional bond with your audience, builds up customer loyalty, and encourages your audience to engage with your brand.
- Communication — Your brand's visual identity communicates your company’s values, mission, and personality without words. It can convey professionalism, innovation, reliability, or anything else you want your target audience to associate with your brand.
- Differentiation — In competitive markets, a distinctive visual identity helps you stand out from competitors. It highlights what makes your brand unique and why customers should choose you over others.
- Professionalism — A well-designed visual identity also conveys professionalism and credibility. It shows that you invest in your brand, which gives potential customers and business partners the confidence to take a chance on you.
- Brand Unity — For businesses with multiple products, services, or even sub-brands, a unified visual identity keeps your brand consistent across all channels and makes it easier for customers to recognize your brand.
- Market Positioning — Your visual identity plays a key role in positioning your brand in a crowded market. It can influence perceptions of your brand as luxurious, affordable, youthful, sophisticated, or whatever else you want to be associated with to align with your target market’s preferences.
- Supports Marketing Efforts — Every marketing campaign benefits from a strong visual identity. Whether it's digital advertising, social media, or traditional print media, consistent visuals reinforce your brand message and boost the effectiveness of your campaign.
- Growth and Adaptation — A well-established visual identity provides a foundation for your brand to grow. If needed, it can evolve over time, allowing your brand to adapt to new trends, markets, or strategic shifts while still maintaining its identity.
10 Jacob Cass Design Tips to Boost Your Visuals
Now that you’re up to speed with just how mission-critical your visual identity is, then you’re going to want to make sure that it’s as great as it can be!
Here are the best Jacob Cass design tips for boosting your visuals and putting your best face forward to your target audience, business partners, shareholders, and anyone else with an interest in your brand!
1. Emphasize Simplicity
You don’t ever want your design to overwhelm your audience.
Simplify as much as you can and aim for clear, uncluttered design that communicates your brand without unnecessary fluff or cramming together too many concepts at once.
By streamlining your design and adopting a “less is more” mindset, you can create marketing collateral, websites, ads, and more that are clean, memorable, and have an overall stronger impact.
2. The Importance of Color
Color is an amazing way to stand out in a crowd and be the “flamingo in a flock of pigeons.”
Don’t be afraid of bold colors or of using a color palette that draws attention to your brand. Whatever colors you choose, though, be sure that your color scheme is consistent and aligns with your brand identity.
Don’t forget about color psychology either! The right colors can evoke certain emotions and feelings in your target audience. Use color to encourage trust, resonate friendliness and approachability, and build urgency for your audience!
3. Detail in Design
Quality matters, in whatever you do.
Pay close attention to the details in your design because nothing is “unimportant” and it's careful attention to detail that can take your design from “just okay” to “wow, that looks amazing!”
Even the tiniest elements, like icons and buttons, visual hierarchy, typography pairing, and whitespace can influence your overall design and an audience’s perception of your brand.
Be sure your details are enhancing your design and not distracting from your message!
4. The Art of Typography
Typography is a very powerful tool that affects not only your brand’s personality but readability and user engagement too!
The right fonts with the right spacing and layout can boost the message you’re trying to convey, guide your viewer’s attention, lead them to your CTAs, and make your content more enjoyable to read.
To do it right, choose fonts that reflect your brand’s character and are easy to read, even when shrunk down for smaller screen sizes. Pay attention to the hierarchy of your content and be sure that it’s effectively guiding your reader’s attention to where it needs to be.
5. Consistency is Key
Being consistent is of utmost importance if you want to build a strong brand identity and stay memorable to your target audience.
Be sure that your branding, color schemes, logo, fonts, and other design elements (right down to the details!) are consistent in all mediums your audience can find you, whether it’s social media, email, website, or printed materials.
If your brand doesn’t yet have a branding guide to help you do this, we happen to know where you can get some help with that.
6. Adaptive and Responsive Design
Be sure that your design is accessible to all of your target audience and setting them up for success.
An adaptive and responsive website not only looks good and improves the user experience, it also helps you with your SEO rankings, which can improve your visibility and increase your reach.
Be sure to test out your design on multiple devices to make sure it adapts perfectly, and no one is left out!
7. Personalize Your Brand
Your design should be unique and help your brand stand out.
Whether it’s through a bold color scheme, a striking logo, or a unique voice in your copy, personalizing your brand helps you to better resonate with your audience and makes you more relevant and memorable.
Remember, you don’t decide how the audience perceives your brand, they do! So, use your design to guide your audience toward the way you want to be perceived.
8. Data-Driven Design
Sometimes it’s best to let your data guide your design choices.
Analyze your user’s behavior to see what’s working and what isn’t and refine as you go. This approach keeps you on your toes and helps you to always be continually improving your design and adapting to your audience's evolving preferences.
In the end, the effort will work to help you better understand your audience, optimize your design, and lead to better results.
9. Use Negative Space as a Positive
Not every inch of your collateral needs to have something on it!
Negative space or white space (the name for the empty space between design elements) isn’t just “empty” space, it should be a big part of your design!
With strategic use of whitespace, you can create a better focus on the most important elements of your design, improve readability in your content, and balance out your design for a cleaner and more visually appealing presentation.
10. Never Stop Evolving
The design industry is constantly changing, constantly evolving.
So, if you want your brand to keep up with the trends, you’ve got to stay curious and keep learning so that you evolve along with it. Don’t be afraid to experiment with new tools, AI, trends, and techniques to keep your designs fresh and your audience happy.
Give your audience a platform for feedback too. That will give you an opportunity to hear what your audience thinks directly so that you can iterate on your design for continuous improvement.
The Benefits of Impactful Design
It takes some work, but if you can master your visuals, your brand is in for some serious benefits.
Here are just a few!
- Better Brand Recognition — Visually striking and consistent design makes your brand more recognizable and memorable to your audience.
- Improves User Experience — Good design meets user needs, making engaging with your brand much more enjoyable.
- Builds Trust — Professional and thoughtful design gives your brand a sense of reliability and credibility, which builds trust among your customers.
- Differentiates You from Competitors — Impactful design can set your brand apart in a crowded market and help highlight your unique value proposition.
- Increases Engagement — Well-designed visuals are more likely to grab your audience’s attention, encouraging more engagement with your content, products, or services.
- Supports Your Brand's Messaging — Design that aligns with your brand's message makes your communication efforts more effective.
- Drives Conversion — Compelling design can guide users toward taking desired actions, like making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter, which can increase your conversion rates.
- Encourages Social Sharing — Eye-catching design is more likely to be shared on social media, which amplifies awareness and increases your visibility.
- Emotional Connections — Thoughtful design can evoke emotions, which helps create a personal connection between your brand and your audience.
- Reflects Company Values — Through choices in colors, typography, and imagery, your design can reflect and communicate your company's values.
- Adapts to Multiple Platforms — Effective design is flexible, making sure your brand is well-represented across various platforms and devices, from desktop to mobile.
- Boosts Market Position — A strong visual identity can strengthen your brand’s position in the market, attracting more customers and potentially allowing for premium pricing.
Remember, impactful design is not just about aesthetics; it's a strategic tool that affects how your brand is perceived and thought of by your audience!
Mastering Effective Branding with Jacob Cass’s Design Principles
If you’re wondering why we take design inspiration from Jacob Cass, then we’re happy to tell you!
Jacob Cass is a professional graphic designer, branding expert, business coach, podcaster, and founder of Just Creative, an award-winning branding and design agency and industry-leading blog.
Renowned in the design world, Jacob Cass’s branding strategies have helped countless brands to “Stand the Flock Out” and reach their goals! By adhering to the design principles that work for him, you can set your brand up for success and use your design to create a distinct identity that your audience will love.
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Looking for a Partner to Give Your Visuals a Boost?
If you’re ready to start putting out the visuals that showcase your brand the way you want to be seen, then we’re ready too!
Designity is made up of vetted, US-based creative talent — the elite top 3% of the thousands that apply! That means our team is ready to learn about your brand and your goals and give you the high-quality and professional-looking visuals you need to stand out in a crowded market and get the attention you deserve.
Designity adheres strongly to principles of design Jacob Cass uses himself, and we are more than ready to put those principles to work to enhance your marketing collateral. And you won’t even have to worry about going over budget either. To find the perfect fit for your creative needs, just choose one of three flat, predictable subscription plans to get the level of services that work best for you.
Sound like a dream come true?
Why not have a look at our portfolio and see how we’ve elevated the visuals and the design of brands just like yours? And whenever you’re ready, go ahead and book your demo call so you can try out our services for a two-week, no-obligation trial.
Are you ready to get the visuals your brand deserves?
