Benefits of Graphic Design Augmentation
As someone that works with a marketing agency offering graphic design work, I have seen the amount of work today’s corporate giants demand. There’s a reason why this is the case. Today’s consumer lives in a digital-first world and can be reached through various mediums. But are today’s campaigns built to match? In order to keep pace with consumers, agencies need to take cues from other industries and implement graphic design augmentation.
Augmentation in Other Industries
Augmentation in this sense is a term that is often applied to software and processes. The software with this focus is being applied as a compliment, not a replacement, to the workforce. Spotting the processes that could be done quicker and filling in those holes is where this software thrives and frees up human resources to work toward the improvement and betterment of the companies that use them.
The information technology industry has been using staff augmentation for years through assessing the skills of internal teams and contracting or outsourcing to cover the gaps. In doing so, the industry has been able to quickly grow and increase service offerings. The flexibility offered through augmentation in this form has been key to the growth of IT globally.
In business, I have found it helpful to look at outside industries and find what may work to improve my own. From entertainment to science, there is always an idea to be found that can fit what is done in the marketing world. I look at these applications of augmentation and get inspired. Today’s graphic designers can operate at scale by adopting augmentation.
The Benefits of Graphic Design Augmentation
Scalability is at the core of augmentation. Many of the brands we work with look for adaptation and resizing of their visuals and graphics. While it is crucial work, graphic design augmentation looks to take resizing and adaptation and turn it up to 11. Multiplying the amount of design work done and reaching consumers across diverse touchpoints is possible with this approach. In an age of challenger brands and the prominence of the direct-to-consumer model, expanding visually across multiple touchpoints will take on more importance in the coming years.
Reaching across multiple touchpoints ensures an even stronger brand presence. From point of sale and rich media banners to social media video ads and physical packages, augmenting graphic design means consumers are targeted with consistent messaging. For new product lines, this maximization of brand visibility can be a huge difference-maker. It is also especially useful as large CPG companies look to break into more emerging markets globally.
In the digital space, graphic design augmentation means lightning speed. Digital life is expansive and is expanding with each passing day. Some of the best brands online combine creative content with high-quality graphic design. Once a key visual is passed to graphic designers, assets can be pushed out in as many formats for as many points of contact as required.
Beneficial from Ideation to Evaluation
From a creative standpoint, I can see how graphic design augmentation can take hold before visuals even reach designers. From the ideation stage, a new approach can be taken. How will this video work with a billboard to fit the messaging of this campaign? Do the photos play well with the aspect ratios of different social media platforms? By keeping different mediums in mind before the adaptation and deployment stage, brands can create stand out ideas that play well visually in the physical and digital space.
The ability to test does not need to take a hit either. With graphic design augmentation, A/B testing is just as scalable and can prove to be even more insightful. Reaching different segments of the same audience authentically is a goal of every major brand. This desire has been magnified with the innovations made in the world of artificial intelligence and personalization. Graphic designers that are working with augmentation in mind can create personalized options quickly for a variety of platforms and allow results from A/B testing dictate efficacy.
There is a sense of unruliness when thinking about augmenting in this way. While there is adaptation work done, the scales at which this can be applied mean that this routine work for graphic designers can spiral out of control. However, keeping client goals in mind, scaling intelligently and solid leadership can reduce risk and improve the success of graphic design augmentation.
As brands and their customer base continue to grow, the need for a change in graphic design becomes more evident. Pushing the industry towards a mindset of multiply and adapt assets and key visuals for clients will be a boost and a welcome disruption to business as usual for agencies working with global partners.
