Most businesses whether large or small need assistance and help from a creative agency at some point in time. This is because a creative marketing agency offers you with knowledge and creative perspective about numerous industries and trends and has an upper hand in producing creative content. If you have inhibitions about hiring one and don’t know how where to start, this article will help you make the right decision.
A clear and precise brief
Every company should have a brief written down or should have at least a basic understanding of its requirements before zeroing in on the first creative digital agency they come across. Set some basic expectations for what you want achieved. You can have a direct response commercial in mind or a launch campaign to create brand awareness. Keep your KPIs and the launch platforms in mind. You can always ask people in the industry to recommend you creative agencies that you best suit your needs and purpose.
Find a collaborative best creative agency
More important than finding a well-known creative marketing agency is finding an agency that will understand your company culture and would actually work to build something substantial for you. A famous creative agency that’s globally known is good but you need a creative agency that will work towards your goals, is open to hearing from you and incorporating your changes. No agency should give you the vibe that they know your brand better than you.
Accountability
As a company, accountability becomes very important, which is why you should look for the same in a creative agency and see how they deal with strategy problems and campaigns. Not every campaign is going to be successful and profitable which is why you need a best creative agency that will look at your past mistakes objectively and give you the ability to learn from your past experiences. Look at the agency’s prior projects to see how successful their campaigns have been and ask them how they go about with their revisions.
Progress reports
Keeping in touch with the top creative agency efforts is of utmost importance. Keep biweekly or weekly status updates along with check in calls so you know what’s happening with the agency and the team. Keep giving your feedback after every step because critical and thoughtful assessment is the key to a great end result.
Understanding the principles of a creative design used by a creative agency
The principles of design are nothing but rules that a top creative agency must follow to create an attractive and effective composition. The creative design adheres to strict rules that work under the surface to make work balanced and stable. The core principles of design- alignment, balance, emphasis and contrast make sure that the designs are effective and strong. Let’s read about these principles in details.
Emphasis
Whether you’re designing an animated explainer video or a poster, you need to decide upon the first, the most important thing the audience needs to know from it. You need to make a mental outline and then build the design in an orderly manner.
What is most essential?
If the name of the brand is the most essential for a particular poster then it should be in a space that is eye-catching. The correct colour combinations are essential to make the brand name pop. Emphasis can only be paid to a particular product if you have a clear idea of what you’re trying to communicate. Without it, your design will not succeed.
Balance
Always remember that every element on your design page has a particular weight. The weight can come from texture, colour or size. Crowding elements into a particular area of the composition is ill-advised because the audience will have to put more effort into understanding what a brand is saying.
Symmetry and Asymmetry
Symmetrical designs create balance because they are equally aligned and have equally weighted elements aligned on either side of the centred line. On the other hand, asymmetrical designs use contrasting elements, like a large element with several smaller ones to create a composition that might not be even but has equilibrium. Symmetrical designs can become boring if used too often. Asymmetrical designs bring visual interest because they’re bolder and add movement to your composition.
Contrast
The word ‘pop’ in design terms means contrast. Contrast creates difference and adds space between different elements in a design. Your background needs to be very different from the colours of the elements so that they’re readable and also work together harmoniously.
Typefaces
Understanding contrast is very important to know if the weight and size of your type are refined and balanced. For example, without understanding contrast you might put everything in bold that may confuse the audience and they won’t be able to distinguish what’s important. Most strong and effective designs have only two typefaces because effective contrast can be achieved with two strong fonts or even just one strong typeface in a variety of weights. Without minimal fonts, you stand a chance of confusing and diluting the main purpose of your design.
Learn about the emerging creative design trends
We’re embarking on a very interesting and fruitful year for graphic design. There are designers who are putting pen to paper every day and there are also technology advanced designers that are experimenting with newer areas like AR and 3D. A variety of graphic design trends are emerging because inspiration is striking from everywhere. Let’s look at some of these trends that are used by any top creative agency.
Moody and warm colour palettes
A few years ago designers were embracing neon and bold colours and stayed away from muted colours. However, this year is all about vintage and moody tones. The inspiration for this comes from bold duotones and saturated colours. A washed-out version of that is what the 2020 colour pallete is all about. This design trend is like a homage to the low-fi, soft camcorder footage and the muted photographs of the 70s and 80s which couldn’t capture highly saturated colours. These designs have a wistful and warm vibe.
Custom illustrations
In the world of illustrations, people are now moving from thick and bold lines to elegant and delicate illustrations. Graphic designers are heavily influenced by natural and botanical elements to give their designs a more feminine and innocent look. We are seeing these designs take a front seat in the world of packaging design because these complex yet subtle designs are rendered very well on textured paper. There’s an addition of materials like embossing and foil which strike a balance between simplicity and maximalism.
Buxom serifs
Illustrations are getting lighter but fonts are becoming thicker especially when it comes to serifs. The serif font is ruling the world of typography with its plump font type that looks like it’s pulled out from the days of cast metal. This is the year where the diversity and range of serif fonts are exploding. The custom type is now replacing the clean San serif because the latter is now being looked at as boring and characterless. Custom type makes designs stand out and gives brands a smart look that’s bursting with personality.
Isometric designs
Isometric designs do the job of creating whole universes in small spaces by drawing 3D objects in two dimensions. Even though the drawing is clean and simple, it has a depth that no flat 2D design can compete with. The area of graphic design where this trend is blowing up is iconography. Isometric icons have a lot more warmth and tactility than boring flat designs. The best part is that in comparison to 3D designs, 2D isometric designs have a smaller file size so you won’t have any lag bothering you.
