Three Ways Design Helps People Choose You
My local supermarket has a piano outside for anyone who wants a turn. People of all ages play everything from scales to sonatas. It’s lovely.
One day I’ll take lessons: an hour set aside each week to learn something I grew up listening to, like Cat Stevens’s Morning Has Broken or Bach’s Keyboard Concerto No. 3 in D major. D - F♯ - A - F♯ - G - A
I’ll peruse a few piano teachers’ websites, hoping to find someone whose company I enjoy. Do they welcome adult beginners? Will there be room in the lessons for music I love? I’ll look for lesson times and fees, too. Those details matter, and so does the feel of each website. Together they’ll help me decide whether to reach out.
Your potential clients are making similar decisions. Here are three ways design can help.
1. Help people understand what you offer
You know your work intimately. Someone encountering it for the first time needs help understanding what you do, whom you help and what working with you involves.
If your website tells me you open doors, I’m left wondering whether you’re a coach or a locksmith. Be specific about the help you offer. Career coaching for people returning to work speaks to one need. Locked out? We’ll get you back in speaks to another.
The way words look matters, too. The same sentence can feel formal, playful, intimate or reserved, depending on the typeface you choose.
When headings are larger or bolder than the surrounding text, readers can scan them to find the section they want. In longer passages, type size, contrast and the space between lines affect how comfortably someone can read. Decorative lettering you love in a heading may be tiring to read after a sentence or two.
Read a page from your website on your phone, or hold a printed piece at a comfortable reading distance. Notice where you have to squint or search for important information.
2. Build recognition and trust
Someone might first hear about you from a friend, then visit your website, receive an email or pick up a brochure.
A consistent visual identity helps them recognize the same business in each encounter. Over time, that familiarity can help build trust. Your colors, typography, imagery and layouts can work together to express your business’s character. That impression should be true to both what you offer and what it’s like to work with you.
Your identity also needs flexibility. A logo that works on a large sign may need a simpler version for a social media post viewed on a phone. The layouts can differ while both pieces remain recognizably yours.
Place your website, newsletter and a printed piece beside one another. Look for what connects them and what seems to belong to a different business.
3. Make it easy to take the next step
An interested reader might want to check available appointments, find class dates, ask about a service or join your mailing list. See Class Dates tells someone more than Learn More. A link beside the class description lets them check the schedule while they’re thinking about attending.
Keep dates and appointment information current. Make sure contact details are easy to find, links work, and each invitation leads where it promises to lead.
Try contacting yourself from your phone. How long does it take to find your email address or send a message through your website? You may be more elusive than you realized.
I’m a beginner at the piano. Someone arriving at your website may be just as new to your work. Give them the information they need, a sense of who you are and an easy way to say hello. They might become your new favorite client. ✦
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