Other than the prizes offered in the design contests, the possibility of landing clients is another reason people enter such contests. This is also why the contests are always swarmed with lots of new designers or the less experienced ones because they hope to win and attract new clients to jump start their design careers.

If you think of contests as a marketing platform, then you are very wrong and you will be disappointed at the end of each design contest. Especially if you are not among the winners, and this will be the case most of the times. To illustrate to you why it is not worth it entering the design contests, consider the following.

You risk not being paid

A typical graphics design contest will attract participants in their hundreds if not thousands. Most of the time, every participant will be required to submit more than one design, with ten being the average number for most of them. It implies that you will have to spend your time working on all the designs and submit them within the deadline. With the large number of participants, your chances of becoming the winner or even the first or second runners up are very slim.

Since these are the people who will be rewarded in the graphic design contests, there are no guarantees that you will make it to the final list. And if you are lucky enough to be among the winners, still there are no guarantees that you will be paid or get the designated prize for the winner. Therefore, there is no need to spend your precious time doing some great work, and ultimately get nothing for your sweat.

No other industry holds contests like the design industry

I know you think of the graphics design contests positively, but have you taken time to think if the same is happening in other industries? Would you go to five different dentists to fill your tooth then decide the one you will be paying? Or would you invite ten different plumbers to clear your kitchen sink then decide to pay the one whom you think did a great job in clearing the clog. Or, would you walk into a restaurant and order ten different dishes, try each one to find the one you enjoy the most then request to pay only for the one which you think satisfy you the most?

This is exactly what is going in with the design contests. Taking part in such contests is allowing yourself to get exploited by some ruthless people who probably don’t even care how your face looks like. It is only in this industry that it happens, and it should be stopped.

Design Contest makes the industry cheaper and also compromises quality

With the lack of guarantee of payment and the fact that not everyone’s design will be picked, there is a tendency for the participating designers to relax and not give their best in the design works. If you want clients to value your work, time, and skills in graphics design so that they can pay good money for your services, then you must stop thinking of contests as the best places to find such people.

Design Contests can be addicting – bad for the psychology

When you enter too many contests and you don’t win, you will get discouraged and disheartened and doubt your skills and abilities as a graphics designer. For many people, this is always the norm until they win one. When this happens, you feel very happy and elated so that you enter more contents, hoping to win again.

This creates a cycle of highs and lows in your psychology such that all your emotions and inspirations will be pegged around the design contests. Eventually, you will lose the focus needed to concentrate on your professions and develop your skills to become a better designer.

Lazy shortcut

Finally, the design contest is nothing but a lazy and time costly shortcut to getting clients. This is because nothing is required to enter the contests other than the click of a mouse, which you can do while sugaring your coffee at home. It comes with no obligations whatsoever, and you don’t have to do the designs if you don’t want.

The Solution

Get yourself out of those contests and work on proper approaches to enhancing your skills so that you can get high paying clients. Simply say goodbye to the contests.

Use these tools for color combination inspiration!

The post Is it Worth Entering a Graphic Design Contest? appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.

It is the desire of every designer to come up with unique designs that will impact on their client or their business brands positively. But this kind of branding is not possible unless you know what it takes to come up with a winning brand. Even though knowledge and experience in graphic design are important for proper branding, they are not a requisite in coming up with killer brands.

It is true that it requires time, effort and dedication in developing proficiency in branding at a designer, but if you have a good understanding of the basis of branding for designers, you will take less time and get stellar results without struggling a lot. Here we take a look at the core components of what makes a good brand, and which every designer should be aware of if they want to create brands that will make heads turn whenever they are seen.

Never target everybody

The first item that features prominently in branding basics for designers is that no brand should be made to target everybody. A brand that targets everybody targets nobody. The way to come clean out of this and ensure that you are not aiming wide with your brand is first to identify your target audience.

This can only be achieved by conducting extensive market research and defining exactly who needs your products and services. It is out of this information that you will have a clear picture of who you will be selling to. Hence, you can craft an appropriate brand to captivate their attention. In essence, the brand should be the right fit for the targeted audience. This is by far the most important branding basics for designers you should never forget about.

Simplicity Reigns

It may be tempting to display your design prowess by coming up with very beautiful and extremely catchy designs. However, in the world of branding and design, the objective is to catch the attention of the target audience in the shortest time possible and probably make them take a desired course of action. Due to this, brands have resorted to using designs that are simple yet effective in captivating their target audiences.

This is known as the concept of “Less is more.” It is possible to create the most beautiful design in the industry, but remember, if the target audience admires the beauty of the design and fails to recognize the branding message or the brand promise, then you awesome brand design will go down the drains. Therefore, be as simple as possible in your branding while maintaining quality and high impact designs. Simplicity is thus one of the most important branding basics for designers.

Avoid Special Effects

Closely related to simplicity is the temptation to use special effects while branding. This is another core branding basics for designers. For a brand to be effective, it needs to be remembered by most, if not all, of the target audience. A sure way of achieving this is to avoid special effects in the branding materials. These include but are not limited to effects like drop shadows, gradients, and embellishments amongst other elements.

The danger of using such effects is that they risk compromising the effectiveness of the designs as the targeted audience might find them complex and may not decipher the meaning of the graphics. Even though the temptation to include such effects in your branding may be overpowering, you must resist all attempts to use them. Consider this as one of the branding basics for designers that you should never let go or think about forgetting.

Proper Use of Colors

Colors mean a lot with regards to branding basics for designers. Humans are visual beings with varied responses to different kinds of colors. As a designer who wants to come up with the best designs, proper use of color in your designs is imperative. It will be beneficial in a number of ways to learn about the graphics design color theory to understand the various emotions evoked by the different colors and also to understand the combination of color sheds you can use to get effective results from your branding efforts.

In the absence of these, you will be using colors blindly with no due consideration of the particular effects they will have on those who will see the brand. You shall have thus wasted time and effort in coming up with a blind brand. Therefore, treat the proper use of colors as one of the coveted branding basics for designers. You must just get it right or forget about having a winning design.

Uniqueness

Coming up with unique designs cannot miss when talking about branding basics for designers. Uniqueness is the only attribute that will set you apart from the rest. Of importance is the name and the symbols used in the brand. A unique name should be relevant to the target audience, and it should also be memorable. In addition to this, the name should be accompanied by an appropriate symbol that will help in conveying the central brand message.

Here is how to give any business brand instant personality. 

The post The Basics of Branding For Designers appeared first on LogoMaven | Easy Logo Design Software & Logo Maker.