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Whether you’re in the early stages of developing your own brand, have built an established company, or are simply mapping out your dreams of small or big entrepreneurship, you’ll know there are a thousand different items that need to be considered and a lot of moving targets you’ve got to hit simultaneously.

In tandem with money and logistics, you’ve also got to think about the power you require to move things forward. Translation? Who are the right people in your camp that can help drive your vision into reality?

Learning takes a lifetime, and it comes through discovering new things, making mistakes, meeting new people, and asking tons of questions. Fortunately, we’re allowed to pivot, adapt and grow based on our learnings. It’s never too late to learn something new, and it’s never too late to unstick yourself from routines that no longer serve you.

Building a business (or even acclimating to one you’ve built) is like building an airplane while you’re flying. And while there are tons of guides on how to build a successful one, intuition, empathy, and a breadth and depth of knowledge about many different fields of work are all good foundational tools that you can’t necessarily pull from a step-by-step book.

My name is Dani Roche, and I am a self-taught (and then formally trained) graphic designer-turned-entrepreneur. I started young – I was 12 when I began learning the Adobe Creative Suite, and I was 16 when I opened my first business. The decision to start a business wasn’t really a decision at all; moreso, it was a fast-moving progression of a hobby. Because I never wrote a business plan and grew up with the idea that “creativity” or “the arts” would never translate into a successful career, it took many years for me to see myself as someone who could be a business owner. I didn’t think it was possible to possess both left and right brain thinking, and I certainly didn’t think I could do so and succeed.

Because I believe creativity and design is still undervalued in “the business world,” I’ve listed some considerations that might add to your knowledge bank and provide some guidance in hitting one of those perpetually moving targets.

1) A brand identity can’t just be aesthetically pleasing – it also must be strategic

I’m a graphic designer by trade, so I can happily share that a good brand identity is more than just a logo and typefaces. A brand identity is the way that a company visually communicates to an audience; therefore, visual assets are only a small part of a bigger picture. Design is strategic – it’s not just pushing around pixels and having a selection of brand assets that “do the job.” There is a preconceived notion that design (and designers) aren’t worth the investment,  especially in an automated world where new design tools are templated, drag-and-drop, and turnkeyed.

When you’re hiring someone to create a brand identity, look for someone who asks a lot of questions, tries to understand your business capabilities, target market, needs and is forward-looking. A designer with a solid portfolio is a plus, but you should invest in their ideas beyond just images for a better long-game approach.

2) License your typefaces!

Fonts are more than just the default tools that come pre-installed on your laptop. Fonts are crafted by designers, much like how photos are taken by photographers and drawings are created by illustrators! Consider the importance of licensing the fonts you use the same way you would pay to license stock photography (and not just pull them off Google so you can sell your products).

Fonts are spectacular tools and beautiful works of art with many different personalities. The fonts you use to tell your brand story are designed by someone, somewhere, and they should be treated with respect.

3) Accessible and universal design for all should be a standard

If you’re starting a new business or are thinking about refreshing your old one, chances are, building a website is top of mind. Because you might be in the early phase of your planning, consider doing your part by creating an accessible web experience.

The amount of accessibly designed websites is not reflective of the individuals out there living with disabilities – be they hearing or sight impairments or neurological disorders like epilepsy. Tools like colour contrast checkers and screen readers can be used to help your website better reflect the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. If you’re unsure of where to start, check the latter to learn more.

4) Not all “creative” roles can be done by the same person

Your company is rooted in the people part of the story. If you’re a small business owner looking to scale, consider investing in design and branding OR finding a network of freelancers who care to understand what your brand is trying to do or say.

These days, we often hear the term, “jack of all trades, master of none” being thrown around. While there’s nothing wrong with playing in different sandboxes and exploring and learning new tools, the expectation – as a business owner – shouldn’t be to categorize all “creative people” as the same. If you’re running the show, you must identify with how easy it is to be burnt out when you’re doing too many different things at once. Similarly, your team should be able to do the best work when they have focused goals and are committed to something they excel in. For example, someone who is a creative marketing strategist should not be the same person running all social media accounts on a day-to-day basis. Just because these roles are categorized under “marketing” doesn’t mean they possess all-encompassing skills that cover the various disciplines and expertise that fall under marketing.

5) Be flexible, and don’t get stuck

A brand identity should be flexible, and it should grow alongside you. Even the largest and most recognizable companies rebrand. No matter what scale you’re at, if you think your brand needs a refresh, don’t feel tied down by the saying “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” Consider what decisions will help you build a more sustainable future.

About the Author:

Dani Roche is a creative director and designer based in Toronto, Canada. A product of the internet age, she combines a multi-disciplinary design background with a drive for digital strategy to create thoughtful and engaging output that spans print, brand identity and holistic marketing campaigns. Her empathy, forward-looking and acute understanding of digital communities has garnered her a spot on the prestigious Forbes Under 30 List (Marketing & Advertising 2019), as well as recognition from Marketing Magazine as a leader in Canadian marketing and by Applied Arts Magazine as a design industry disruptor. Dani has also been profiled internationally by Vogue, Fashionista.com, Coveteur, and Refinery29. She currently owns the design + marketing agency Kastor & Pollux and has worked on projects in the realms of fashion, tech, finance, and lifestyle.

Learn more about Dani at kastorandpollux.com or on Instagram at @daniesque

Have you ever felt the following:

• You feel like your website is “good enough”, but now it doesn't feel like it's reflective of our ever-changing digital world.
• You're looking for a new way to reach your community and build strong relationships with warm leads.
• You're ready to confidently elevate your brand professionally so you can increase your impact and sales.

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My name is Christine Lieu, and I am the expert behind CL Designs and the Brand Party Podcast. My first dip into entrepreneurship and startup culture was inspired by a time of loss in my life, but it had me reflect on how I wanted to live my life to help clients create bold legacies.

Your website is a portal to your magic. You are investing in it (through the domain, hosting, and more) and it should be a platform that returns your investment. I’ve put together a list of my top 5 tips to optimize conversions for your website and some prompts to dive deeper.

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1. Make your design friendly

To create a memorable experience, you’ll want to consider user experience (UX). If it’s difficult to find the information your customers need and difficult to navigate the pages, they will leave and be unlikely to return. Today, we peruse websites mainly through our mobile devices first and laptop/desktops second. Ensure your layout is responsive (catered towards various screen sizes), easy to navigate with a touch of a finger and that you have simple CTA buttons.

As much as they may land on your website to learn more about you and what you have to offer, ensure your messaging is actually more about how it can help them. In order to stand out from your competitors and attract new leads, ensure your design, layout and composition create a cohesive identity that’s also functional and gets the job done quickly. Audit your colour choices, logo usage, styling of photos and graphic elements. To ensure cohesion, make sure you’re using a few font choices to streamline the overall look and feel to make it easy for visitors to read.

If you think about a time you were checking the credibility of a brand, it’s more than likely you’ve searched their website. According to Forrester Research, good UX design can increase your website's conversion rate by up to 400%, while Invision has stated that 88% of online customers are less likely to return after a bad experience. Visitors’ actions are inspired by their perception of design and the overall experience.

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2. Create a low effort, high touch experience

Consider the most integral steps in your customer’s journey. Is there a lot of heavy and manual lifting to be done? If so, consider integrating tools to help with calendar scheduling, automating a questionnaire post-sales calls, or create a contact form directly within your website for a one-click correspondence. In doing the work upfront, you’ll end up creating a high-touch experience for visitors to get what they need in 1 click.

Customers are becoming more and more impatient with so much content at our disposal. If you’re looking to optimize speed and boost your SEO, you can:

• Ensure that your page loads in a matter of seconds to increase your visitor’s chance of staying on longer.
• Speed up your website load time by compressing your images to a smaller size or resolution quality. 72 dpi is the resolution quality needed for anything digital.
• Clean up your media library if you have a lot of video, especially if they’re running natively from your website.
• Embed videos sourced from other platforms
• Integrate newsletter sign-ups with a hyperlinked button
• Share an embedded calendar link through a frame.

3. Remember accessibility always matters

You should always consider the accessibility of your website, firstly to be compassionate to visitors, and secondly to reach an audience that you may be missing out on. When choosing colours, you want to ensure that it’s AODA compliant to boost contrast and legibility for those who may have different visual abilities. It’s said that by the University of Loyola, they’ve seen an 80% increase of brand recognition by the use of colour. Evoke the mood you’re looking to reflect and can use it strategically to emphasize certain actions and elements. Create multiple visual cues whether that’s photo references for added visual support with alt text to stated button actions and visual cues for various elements like arrows to prompt further.

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4. Provide social proof

According to Kinesis, 94% of first impressions are design-related. Of course there are other factors that will impact this figure, but the influence that design has to make that immediate judgment is too large to ignore.

You can add testimonials, reviews, and press features for added credibility to build trust with your community. With the possibility of large areas of text, consider what’s most relevant for visitors coming to your website. If they were to glance through your content, bolding certain parts you want them to focus on will help with the overall design to capture attention.

5. Be direct and clear about choices

The majority of small business websites don’t have enough calls to action (CTAs) on their website. They may not always do the action you advise, but that prompt really does help boost familiarity and encourage action. It’s like dangling the carrot but not giving the treat. You’ve got to share the offer. Minimize the amount of choices to make a clear decision making process for your visitors.

Make sure your buttons are all styled with the same shape and punchy copy. With copy, make sure it’s understandable what you’re expecting the next step to be and that it’s hyperlinked accordingly. With colour choices, you’ll want to choose from your brand palette that is used for emphasis to encourage bright and inspired action. Studies have shown that buttons with red, orange, or green colouring get the highest conversion rates, as long as they’re clearly identified on the page.

6. Humanize your experience

Remember that there’s a human behind the screen! People don’t buy products — they buy the story and solutions you have to offer. Learning more about your intention and purpose will help turn those website creepers to converters.

Put your best foot forward! Incorporate negative white space to ensure a breathable and legible experience. Remember, less is more.

Celebrate creating! Experiment with different ways to optimize opportunities and conversions with your website with a human-centered approach. Delight your potential new leads, current customers, and community with your magic.

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About the Author:

Christine Lieu is the expert behind CL Designs and the Brand Party Podcast. She helps purpose-driven businesses create cohesive branding, web design, and social content creation to increase your impact and sales. Saying no to dull and clunky visuals and yes to consistency, creativity, and efficiency forms the core of her approach. As featured in Top 10 Canada Design and Apple Podcasts’ New + Noteworthy lists, the Brand Party Podcast delivers fun, honest, to-the-point advice that you can implement RIGHT AWAY in your entrepreneurial journey.

Christine has been featured in Yahoo News’ Top 10 graphic designers to watch for in 2021, has had the honour to be nominated for RBC'S Women of Influence Award two years in a row, and earned Digital Publishing Awards for her work on Maclean’s “Bulldog” Election Daily issue, Walmart Live Better​ and CBC Music.

Learn more about Christine at christineldesigns.com or on Instagram at @_clieu or @brandpartypodcast

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