Where should I start?
Are you staring at a blank page in Canva or scrolling through countless templates every time you have to create marketing graphics and you don’t really know where to begin? If the answer to that question is yes, rest assured that you aren’t alone in the struggle. I have spoken to many solopreneurs and small business owners that have the same dilemma. There are countless design decisions that can be made with even the smallest of projects but the same question is always asked - where do I start?
In fact, after recently speaking with a number of small business owners at the start of their brand creation, the number one issue that came up was that they didn’t know how to begin creating a brand and therefore were stuck in the beginning stages of marketing their existing (or future company), rather than taking small steps to move forward.
And to be completely honest with you, even after twenty years in the design industry, over forty launches that span pharmaceutical and real estate marketing, financial products, and luxury beauty packaging, I still need a moment or two to gather my thoughts and clear my head before starting any new project. Sometimes I even have to take a walk and get out into nature to clear my head and relax before I can move forward.
So I’m going to share a few tips with you and a surprisingly simple creative process that I use on a regular basis and they are simple actions that you can take immediately.
Brainstorm. The very first thing that I do before I start any design project is that I brainstorm. Yes, it’s really that simple. I sit down in a quite space where I can be free of distractions and I do a complete brain download of everything that I can think of. What I’ve seen, what I like, any ideas that come to mind. What the competition is doing. What I like and don’t like about their methods. Anything and everything goes down on that paper and it’s completely unfiltered.
Make connections. This is the next important step in the brainstorming process. Take a peak at what you’ve jotted down on your paper and start making any connections that you can see with your ideas. At this stage, you can even start sketching out visuals - or even noting them on the side so that you don’t forget what you thought of before. Any connection that you make could potentially form the foundation of your visuals as you start to refine some of your ideas
Conduct a bit of research. Okay, this is where you can start pulling out your favourite journal or notebook or open up your computer and start creating a mood board. Take a good look at how your competition (primary and secondary) is handling their marketing. Do you like it? Or do you have ideas on how you can do things better? This will help you to potentially see what your future customers are responding to as well as how you can stand out in the market place.
Take your ideas to the computer. You’re going to want to spend some time in the research phase, but when you are ready, start playing around with your favourite computer program - whether that be sketching ideas in Illustrator, or going straight to Canva. Any idea that you discovered in step 1 or 2 that you feel is worth exploring should be translated to graphics in this stage. And after working on all of your ideas until you are happy, I want you to put them away for at least a day. Often we get caught up in the process and over analyze what we are doing when it comes to visuals, so looking at your progress work with a fresh set of eyes is just as important as refining your ideas. It also allows you to take a step back and evaluate if you are headed in the right direction.
Let’s take you away from the “I just don’t know how to begin stage” and get you started on your DIY design journey. Implementing these simple steps will take you from staring at a blank page to feeling more confident about DIY-designing your own marketing graphics and will help you get started. And remember, you can always refine your branding and marketing visuals as you start creating, so try not to put pressure on yourself to have everything perfectly figured out in the beginning. It is more important to start and refine, than to never have begun in the first place.