Graphics Design — The Cost of Free
Tags: Book Cover Design, Graphics Design, Infographics, Branding Design, Logo Design

Reasons to engage an expert graphics designer

Logos and other graphics are the branding that identify and establish your business. Your branding gives customers a chance to see what your business is all about before they engage; it’s what they remember, and its what carries your business’s reputation. Therefore the graphics logos must truly represent what a business offers in a wholistic form with a touch of creativity, quality, and authenticity.

When it comes to engaging a graphics or a logo design service for your business, specifically for those on a tight budget, choosing a range of free and paid options in the market can be confusing. Many people opt to use free options that promise quick results for free. Such DIY services can get you started for free and to get results yourself and quickly. But business outlook may suffer as a result as free and quick results mostly lack originality, uniqueness, and relevance.

Unless you are putting something as a placeholder, it is always a good idea to get something that is original, tailored to your needs, designed specifically to represent your business.

Why people chose free

The main attraction of almost all the free options is, one, of course, they claim of being free, and second that they give the user the DIY option, to create graphics or logos based on some sort of templates and predesigned elements that are combined by some level of automation to create the results in your own time.

Limitations and the cost of free

Some DIY services may seem effective to get you started for free. But customization usually come at some cost, which defeats the purpose of free. Generally, the free options are limited to the predefined templates or elements that the user chose to combine to get the results. This limits the range of customization and creativity. Overall, the free options lack originality, uniqueness and overall custom creative quality.

The indirect cost of free options, in the long run therefore, can be very high. The free options usually lack a professional look and originality to reflect truly what your business stands for. Yet it may come with additional limitations on copyright, modifications, and reusability. When you use such free options that do not truly represent your business, services, or brand, it can limit the customer connection to your brand and hurt customer confidence. This will limit the customer engagement impacting the take rate or adoption rate. Therefore, the choice of free options for perceived savings upfront may actually result in a higher cost than it usually is obvious.

Characteristic of a good graphics design

A good graphics design requires input, research, and creating something that is original, unique to truly represent what you need it for. Reaching the final result usually requires presenting a few concepts and a few iterations of the chosen concept before the final approval of the customer on a refined design. This also involves some sort of support from the designer for later alterations. Free options do not offer any of the above. A good custom design has visual appeal, it represents your brand more accurately, it is unique, scalable, and can be adapted across your branding needs. Overall, it is a brand creation process that requires creative effort.

It is a real challenge when the funds are limited and you need something engaging. However, there are ways to work on a budget. Vananj.com, for example, offers an option for budget conscious customers to engage professionals who will work on their requests within their budget and time frame. The buyers pay what they like.

Happy Branding!

Vananj Team