Graphic Design as a Strategic Resource in the Global Marketplace
Graphic design, the big picture – Creating relevance
Graphic design is a strategic resource that can help Malaysia succeed in the global marketplace. Although a fledgling profession here in Malaysia, the ramifications of graphic design are wide and encompassing. We experience it as part of our daily lives. It touches us in many ways from its printed to electronic forms; from books, newspapers, packaging, and marketing ephemera to television and computer screens, to name a few.
Where there are words and/or images, the expertise of a graphic designer shapes what we see and read. What has been visually processed leads us to think and act, and can heighten our emotional experience. It can make us buy on impulse, direct us to where we want to go, and play with our perception. It can tell the truth, lie, reveal, conceal, clarify or even distort.
Graphic design helps the mind arrange form and content into an intelligible aesthetic and functional whole in order to prepare for action – whether to inform, to entertain or to boost sales. It purpose is to serve our need to communicate, to market and express. Its creative endeavour is an art, while its process is scientific and quantifiable according to pedagogical standards.
So why should graphic design be important, especially in the context of economic development?
Branding and business in Malaysia – Accentuating opportunities
The reward for using graphic design to create trade advantages are considerable. When utilised as a strategic business tool, good graphic design can help companies perform better and increase their profit margins. It can create favourable perceptions and enhance business.
Through branding or corporate identity management, you can stay ahead of the competition by purposely defining your company through a desired persona. Branding can visually represents and define the character of your business. It can sum up all tangible and intangible traits, strengths, beliefs, values, interests, physical features and pedigree that make you and your product or service unique. It engages your customers and business partners and can influence your company’s culture and aspirations. Properly managed and executed, your identity can be one of your company’s most powerful marketing tools that stays in people’s memory and stands out like a beacon in today’s cluttered global marketplace.
Far from being decorative and abstract, branding helps companies communicate and market effectively. Organisations that wish to position or reposition in the market, to define differences between them and their competitors, to signal changes to the outside world, to attract attention for whatever reason, or trigger specific intellectual and emotional responses should consider a branding exercise.
Today’s consumers are prepared to pay a huge premium for products that match their aspirations or challenge their imagination. Authenticity and originality are key. Good graphic design that communicates quality sells. It separates the mundane with that we perceive as the value added. Companies that fail to focus on good graphic design are destined to end up as “me-too” suppliers of the mundane. They are the followers instead of the market leaders.
Successful global brands are built around a core graphic design strength coupled with innovative marketing and sound business acumen. This combination will play an increasingly important role as Malaysia matures and can no longer rely on a low wage base to undercut her rivals. Business need to focus on strategic creative solutions to succeed globally. A company’s obsession with design innovation along with other factors will help keep it at the forefront of a very competitive market.
Malaysian business need to address, not whether to invest in graphic design, but how substantial should the investment be.
The reward for using graphic design to create trade advantages are considerable. When utilised as a strategic business tool, good graphic design can help companies perform better and increase their profit margins. It can create favourable perceptions and enhance business.
Through branding or corporate identity management, you can stay ahead of the competition by purposely defining your company through a desired persona. Branding can visually represents and define the character of your business. It can sum up all tangible and intangible traits, strengths, beliefs, values, interests, physical features and pedigree that make you and your product or service unique. It engages your customers and business partners and can influence your company’s culture and aspirations. Properly managed and executed, your identity can be one of your company’s most powerful marketing tools that stays in people’s memory and stands out like a beacon in today’s cluttered global marketplace.
Far from being decorative and abstract, branding helps companies communicate and market effectively. Organisations that wish to position or reposition in the market, to define differences between them and their competitors, to signal changes to the outside world, to attract attention for whatever reason, or trigger specific intellectual and emotional responses should consider a branding exercise.
Today’s consumers are prepared to pay a huge premium for products that match their aspirations or challenge their imagination. Authenticity and originality are key. Good graphic design that communicates quality sells. It separates the mundane with that we perceive as the value added. Companies that fail to focus on good graphic design are destined to end up as “me-too” suppliers of the mundane. They are the followers instead of the market leaders.
Successful global brands are built around a core graphic design strength coupled with innovative marketing and sound business acumen. This combination will play an increasingly important role as Malaysia matures and can no longer rely on a low wage base to undercut her rivals. Business need to focus on strategic creative solutions to succeed globally. A company’s obsession with design innovation along with other factors will help keep it at the forefront of a very competitive market.
Malaysian business need to address, not whether to invest in graphic design, but how substantial should the investment be.
Assessing partnerships – Enhancing your graphic design investment
If graphic design is an investment, the returns, both tangible and intangible, are potentially great as illustrated above. So how do we quantify and qualify the investment to a shared and desired level of graphic design excellence?
There are no set rules to assess excellent work. Ideally, it should be judged on contextual performance, for example, an effective book design to access content, a marketing brochure to win customers.
To measure the effectiveness of your investment in graphic design, here are a few suggestions:
• Define the Role of Graphic Design for Your Business
First, assess the role of, and need for, graphic design in your business. Think about how graphic design can contribute to your company’s success. Having a clear set of goals is a good start. Companies who strategically position graphic design in their overall business strategy instead of looking at it as a decorative exercise will enhance the purpose of how graphic design can contribute to its position in the market.
• Form An Equitable Relationship
For graphic design to achieve a company’s objectives, it is necessary to cultivate an equitable and collaborative partnership with designers. As much as designers are responsible for design excellence, the effectiveness of their design solution also relies on the information provided to them by clients. Providing detailed briefs will help strengthen the effectiveness of graphic design.
• Innovating in Graphic Design is a Process
The reluctance by many clients to pay for original ideas by insisting on free pitches must change. Companies should understand and appreciate the value of intellectual property, which anywhere in the world is a highly sought commodity, even within their own industries. Ideas and originality are the foundation on which design entrepreneurship flourish. As graphic design offers creative and practical business solutions, designers should rightly be rewarded for their efforts. Graphic design firms are as profit-oriented as any other business. Ignoring or devaluing the role of graphic design and designers will inevitably erode originality. In such a scenario, quality is often neglected as graphic design firms take on more projects to make ends meet.
• The Decorative vs the Functional
To unleash graphic design’s true potential, it is important to acknowledge that it is a skilled profession. Graphic design is about processing information visually. It is not just decorative and pretty. Its multi-disciplinary function can market a product or service, communicate a public message or sell an image.
If graphic design is an investment, the returns, both tangible and intangible, are potentially great as illustrated above. So how do we quantify and qualify the investment to a shared and desired level of graphic design excellence?
There are no set rules to assess excellent work. Ideally, it should be judged on contextual performance, for example, an effective book design to access content, a marketing brochure to win customers.
To measure the effectiveness of your investment in graphic design, here are a few suggestions:
• Define the Role of Graphic Design for Your Business
First, assess the role of, and need for, graphic design in your business. Think about how graphic design can contribute to your company’s success. Having a clear set of goals is a good start. Companies who strategically position graphic design in their overall business strategy instead of looking at it as a decorative exercise will enhance the purpose of how graphic design can contribute to its position in the market.
• Form An Equitable Relationship
For graphic design to achieve a company’s objectives, it is necessary to cultivate an equitable and collaborative partnership with designers. As much as designers are responsible for design excellence, the effectiveness of their design solution also relies on the information provided to them by clients. Providing detailed briefs will help strengthen the effectiveness of graphic design.
• Innovating in Graphic Design is a Process
The reluctance by many clients to pay for original ideas by insisting on free pitches must change. Companies should understand and appreciate the value of intellectual property, which anywhere in the world is a highly sought commodity, even within their own industries. Ideas and originality are the foundation on which design entrepreneurship flourish. As graphic design offers creative and practical business solutions, designers should rightly be rewarded for their efforts. Graphic design firms are as profit-oriented as any other business. Ignoring or devaluing the role of graphic design and designers will inevitably erode originality. In such a scenario, quality is often neglected as graphic design firms take on more projects to make ends meet.
• The Decorative vs the Functional
To unleash graphic design’s true potential, it is important to acknowledge that it is a skilled profession. Graphic design is about processing information visually. It is not just decorative and pretty. Its multi-disciplinary function can market a product or service, communicate a public message or sell an image.
The resolution – Activating possibilities
Quality design education is essential to ensure graphic design excellence. By constantly challenging pedagogical standards, the education system can promote creative innovations that surpass international norms. It also fulfils the Government’s plan to develop a knowledge based economy. Looking to stimulate opportunities, the Government should encourage good graphic design practice through its business activities to raise the economic bar. A portfolio within an appropriate government ministry should be created to channel the effort of the design industry, regulate the quality of design education and monitor the ethics of the design industry.
By its very nature, graphic design and designers nurture creativity and talent, and are capable of solving communication problems strategically in the global marketplace. They are invaluable assets to the nation’s development plan. What is required is the support and recognition to make they industry more purposeful.
After over 30 years in the graphic design business, I believe the Malaysian graphic design industry can contribute to her economic and cultural life.
Quality design education is essential to ensure graphic design excellence. By constantly challenging pedagogical standards, the education system can promote creative innovations that surpass international norms. It also fulfils the Government’s plan to develop a knowledge based economy. Looking to stimulate opportunities, the Government should encourage good graphic design practice through its business activities to raise the economic bar. A portfolio within an appropriate government ministry should be created to channel the effort of the design industry, regulate the quality of design education and monitor the ethics of the design industry.
By its very nature, graphic design and designers nurture creativity and talent, and are capable of solving communication problems strategically in the global marketplace. They are invaluable assets to the nation’s development plan. What is required is the support and recognition to make they industry more purposeful.
After over 30 years in the graphic design business, I believe the Malaysian graphic design industry can contribute to her economic and cultural life.