I need to update the look of my website and marketing materials; it’s a task I really struggle with because I’m just not a very visual person. Read me a sentence and I can tell you right away if I like it or not, but show me an array of colors, shapes and layouts and I’m paralyzed. After listening to me obsess over various design decisions (“New professional photograph: smiling or not smiling; if smiling, teeth showing or not showing? New marketing postcard for local clients: Colorado theme, French theme or neither; if French theme, classic or edgy?”), my husband showed me this for perspective. It’s from BoingBoing, and features the late designer Paul Rand’s own business card. While Rand designed some of the most iconic logos of our time (IBM, ABC, UPS, Westinghouse to name a few), his own business cards are exuberantly unremarkable. So maybe the marketing material design is less important if you’re really good at what you do!
I think there is a point to what you say but, in a way, those cards do have their own minimalist design to them. Also, that was a different era, though, and he was very well-known, so at that point, his name was his “calling card” perhap. Our work *should* speak for us, but some well-chosen marketing pieces can only help.
I imagine Paul Rand needed no introducing as his reputation preceded him. Presumably, the person who received this card knew very well who he was and needed only his contact details. Although it doesn’t even mention his profession, it does say something about how he did what he did.
In short, it’s not solely about design, but I think good design does help communicate the how along with the what.
Corinne,
Here is my opinion: For most translation service providers, it should be content over design any day.
If you’re in the business of providing translations to designers, ad agencies, or copy writers, you need to really pay attention to the look of your materials. Otherwise, forgetaboutit.
Clients select their translation suppliers based on expertise, experience, technical skills, location, price – any number of reasons but design of their web/marketing materials isn’t one of them.
Sure, the materials have to look “good enough”. But you will win business by doing a good job explaining why prospects and clients should hire you instead of one of the other gazillion translation service providers, not because your color palette and visual imagery is just right.
Good luck,
Andres
It is easy to overthink website design, but it is not all content over design – considering that visitors can (and do) click away real fast if the site does not speak to them.
Luckily, it has become quite easy to built a site on content management systems such as WordPress, and they do not need to be blogs. There are so many templates out there which you can use for the price of proper attribution, and you can tweak them as much as you want.
So set some time aside for browsing templates, select what you like and what offers good usability, and go for it. If your site reinforces what people took away from meeting you or talking to you on the phone, then mission accomplished … I believe.
I think there’s an elegant simplicity to the business card’s design. I also think some people tend to overdesign when they’re not sure what to do (think of the stereotypical MySpace page), but most well-done sites are simple (like apple.com). I wouldn’t worry about bells and whistles, but just try to keep things streamlined and professional.
I think it’s about the design *and* the copy.
I have redone my company website three times in eight years, and by far the most sensible decision I’ve tried so far was switching from a slick Flash site to a simple WordPress-powered site. I invested 500 euros in some training and assistance setting up WP and invested another 350 euros in some basic graphic design (the header). I put the rest of my budget, 400 euros, into rewriting and copywriting. *The copywriter also helped me rethink the navigation pathways and way in which the information is organized on the site…in other words, the design.* So, design and copy go hand in hand.
In past incarnations I had invested most of my budget in the bells and whistles (Flash, slick graphics) and nothing but my own elbow grease in the copy. Big mistake. Hiring an outsider to explain what you do in language that resonates with your potential clients is well worth the money you’ll pay for it. Even if you *are* a copywriter, it is very hard to write about your own business the way you’d write for one of your clients.
BTW – there’s a post about the lessons learned from building new site and another one about having a professional headshot on my French blog and I’ll be continuing the series with a post about contact forms soon!
I agree with many of the comments: the simplicity of that business card is a huge statement in itself. You need to find a design that represents YOU: you are packaging yourself and the way you work. It WILL say something about you, whether you like it or not (just like Paul Rand’s business card, but I think that was very deliberate). The question is, do you want to choose and control what that message is?
ps, here is a post I wrote on branding for translators:
http://internetmarketingfortranslators.com/what-is-branding/
But coming back to your post title – no, it’s not ALL about design, you are right! 🙂
I *hope* it’s not all about design!
Thanks for this post 😉
Very funny, well-made point by your lovely hubby. I agree with others: it’s a combination of text and design. It is interesting how, as translators, sometimes tackling our own websites (writing or translating) is overwhelming, while we overhaul others’ websites in no time at all! I am currently experiencing this with my own website translation into Spanish, hehe. It’s not a priority, so it’s not finished, which is silly.
I’d say go with a very simple, clean design –like Paul Rand. Agreed with Michael — WordPress templates are great. And yes, @Sara, I think you did the right thing with your website. Flash is so 1999 and there’s nothing better than a nicely designed, clean, easy-to-navigate site with easy user interface. Oh, oh, all my years in e-commerce are coming back to the surface.
I think if you narrow down your choices it will make it all easier. Limit yourself to looking at say, 50 templates and choose from them — this can be a black hole in terms of time. We just redesigned our site with the help of our web guru, and just like you, I couldn’t decide on many things. At some point, I just picked the first thing that looked good to move the process along, figuring I could always change it later. I am quite delighted with the result — simple and clean.
Ah, and I can take your picture if you want. After all, I am the picture expert. I say smiling. With teeth.
Marketing is important if people don’t know much about you but, the best way of promotion is still the “word of mouth” so, if you’re good at what you do, than you don’t necessarily need marketing as a mean of promoting yourself.