Graphic Design for your business

Professional graphic design is essential for anyone serious about marketing their business. Good design has nothing to do with knowing how to drive the latest software programs. It is the ability to develop a cohesion between aesthetics and functionality to communicate a message. Great designers are conceptual beings, they cram as much raw material into their brains as possible and then draw upon it to create their work. Great design derives from countless inspirational sources. There are plenty of attempts to define what good design is exactly.. and a lot of them are bollocks. The best definition I have read would be:

Good Design

1. Fulfills it's function.
2. Respects it's materials.
3. Is suited to method of production.
4. Combines these in imaginative expression.

Graphic Design Professionals

What makes someone a design professional? It is certainly not knowledge of the latest software. Do qualifications make a designer? The answer is no, and neither does knowledge. Experience doesn't really count either. Whilst generally the more experienced C.V. will win out in the workplace, it doesn't count when you are talking about original creation of art and design, a portfolio is much more important than a C.V. So there has got to be something else. Something that isn't experience and isn't knowledge, something that no certificate defines and no C.V. entry reinforces. Compositional skills cannot be taught because you can't form an argument as to why, for example, a masthead looks so much better three pixels to the left than it does three pixels to the right. It just does. No rules, no teaching, no arguments - it just looks better. This is what makes a designer. (Tom Dennis - Computer Arts June 2009)

Activate has all of the above, the degrees and diplomas, many years of professional experience, in-depth knowledge of the latest software, yet we agree that none of these things really make us a design company.

Choosing a Graphic Designer

Before you choose a design company to take on your next project, consider who it is that will actually be doing your job. Is it the sales guy on the phone? The manager perhaps? Larger agencies often secretly 'outsource' work when they get too busy, not that they would want you to know that.. Smaller 'print shops' will do it in-house but do you get to speak directly with the designer who will be doing the work? Will they still be there in the following months and years when you need them again?

Activate Design is renowned for providing personal graphic design and marketing support to key Christchurch businesses. We are not a 'drive-through' print shop company or a large 'expense-flying' advertising agency. We are a specialised group looking after businesses who would like personal and professional support for all graphic design, marketing, printing, and website work. We simply make it easier for new and existing businesses to get what they need efficiently without the hassle and costs of the larger agencies but with the professional look and creative marketing not found at your local print shop.

Behind many successful businesses you'll find Activate Design.