In Israeli realities, we are more and more often faced with self-design — situations when an entrepreneur draws a logo for himself and makes a website for his business.
The situation is twofold. On the one hand, it certainly deserves respect, a person has tried hard and put his heart into it. On the other hand, in terms of quality, the result is not very good. And the reason is not because of insufficient effort and desire.
Many people in Russia do everything themselves also, but, according to our observations, they usually limit themselves to standard templates, photostocks and cliparts. The result is more technically correct, but also more impersonal.
We can cite many examples, but we will not emphasize specific cases. Let us consider the situation as a whole.
Profession
We go to hair salons, see doctors, and trust pilots with our travels. Design, although it does not require licensing, is a profession with many rules and canons. It is not so much an art as a craft.
For example, can everyone defend themselves in court? And draw a notarized power of attorney? Sure. Will it really be of high quality and, in the second case, legal? Alas. Without knowing at least the basic rules, the result will be deplorable: a bitmap logo in RGB will look bad on a ten-meter billboard, and its similarity to a registered trademark can bring a lot of problems.
The identity is the face of the business. And no matter how good the company is, it’s the clothes that make the difference. Globally, the requirements of small business are quite simple, the whole question is in the implementation. It is difficult to make the complex simple, you need knowledge and insight.
Specifics
In Israel, not every entrepreneur thinks that their business needs a website. Not everyone even has a Facebook page. Word of mouth recommendations reign supreme here.
If we’re looking for a good mechanic, Google will rarely suggest something useful. The standard solution is to ask in a relevant Facebook group and get 5−10 phone numbers. Then calling around? How do you choose? And an hour-long investigation begins: do they do electrics, can they order parts, do they have an elevator, etc. Is this right? Unfortunately, Israel is lagging behind in this respect. However, given the growing demand for quality service and the influx of returnees who have had such experience in the past, we are convinced that the time has come to turn to face the customers.
The right solution is a minimalist website (at least a one-page) in at least three languages (Hebrew, English and Russian) with well-crafted texts and appropriate graphics. When you encounter not just a name and phone number, but a website address, such a performer stands out and is considered first. And even if the site is bad, there is more trust because the entrepreneur has made at least some effort to be closer to us — you can see his desire.
Fears
So why don’t they turn to those who understand something about design and marketing? Because it is a new for them, incomprehensible direction. The implication is that communicating is difficult and expensive. It’s always easier to make something you like on your own. The problem is that not only do you have to like it, but customers, especially potential customers, have to like it too.
In fact, if you direct your efforts not to creating something you don’t know how to do, but to finding an adequate performer, the final result will be noticeably better. The market is saturated, and any performer can be found if desired.
Stand out
Standing out from the masses is useful. Eight years ago, we offered a large company a rebranding with the involvement of an extra-class specialist at an exceptionally low price (a 90% discount), which even a small craftsman would have agreed to. At a discussion with the management, we reviewed the letterheads of counterparties, large public and private companies, and came to the unanimous opinion that they were miserable, but the thesis "standing out is bad" won out. Since then, Nornickel, Gazprom and others have spent hundreds of millions of ruble for more than one redesign and have got unashamed faces, while this company, being quite a serious player on the market, remained in the early noughties. And now it already stands out, but for the worse.
Good website
"Goodness" in our case with small business is more or less objective. Such can be called a site that trivially solves the problem. It does not necessarily have to be fashionable, with a lot of animation and other niceties. Its task is to competently convey information to all segments of the target audience and be collected according to all the canons of the industry.
As experience has shown, such sites are sure to start liking them even if they don’t initially, especially when customers point it out.
And here the key role is played by the entrepreneur himself. The completeness and quality of the most important thing, the content, depends almost entirely on him. ChatGPT will help to develop theses, glvrd.ru will help to proofread the text, Midjourney will help with graphics if you do not have your own, but it is the customer who is responsible for the fact that the essence corresponds to the truth and values of the business. Well, the designer’s task is to think about brevity, readability, search engine optimization and other basic aspects.
Conclusion
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