Get your umbrella (designs) ready before the next storm

You’ll learn a lot about life while interacting with kids.

One day, I downloaded a free kid’s mobile game. After playing for a few hours, my son complained about a locked feature. As expected, I needed to pay for it.

Like a cunning millennial, I subscribed for the free trial and marked a date in my calendar to cancel. For 7 days, I was the best mom everrrr. 

But by the end of the week, I cancelled the subscription while my son was asleep. He wouldn’t notice, I thought… But boy, I was so wrong.

Wailing, he woke me up exclaiming that the game he loved so much disappeared. I told him I could reinstall it. I downloaded a free version again hoping that he’d be happy. He can’t access the locked options again and was so frustrated.

I tried to stand by my decision to not subscribe because I believed he’d ignore and forget it after a week. But every day, for a couple of days, he was asking me to unlock it by paying and I kept offering alternatives.

By the 2nd week, he was still on and on about the game, so I ended up getting it for him. I should’ve given in from the start and avoided days of crying, negotiations, and looking for crappy alternatives.

The calm before the storm

The subscription model was created for people that regularly use the service. A client is guaranteed to get the most savings with the full subscription and more value out of it if used often.

Now, the common reason for pausing a subscription is having no current need for the service. 

When you cancel a magazine subscription, it’s because you catch yourself not reading it, right? Most probably because you’re too busy with something else.

In our case, clients pause when they usually don’t have recurring design requirements.

Lean months are the calm before the storm. If you know you are in the eye of a typhoon, will you go out of your house without an umbrella just because you see the sun shining? 

Of course not, because you risk being drenched in a sudden thunderstorm.

The eyewall has more rain and stronger winds. After the calm, you can expect a sudden influx of clients, and design requests. Before you know it, your hands are full and your nights sleepless. Therefore, you have to prepare for the “eyewall”.

When client requests come pouring in, it’s natural for you to forget your own company’s marketing and sales because you’re already busy making money. 

But this is what most entrepreneurs overlook. They fail to prepare while they don’t have recurring design needs.

Designs you didn’t know your company needs

It’s always best to be ready while everything is calm. It gives you a clearer perspective on what you want to achieve with your designs. Here are some design needs you can prepare for:

1. Rebranding options

Consider rebranding even if you’re months or years away from it. This way, you can see all options to further study if you’re going to go through it or not.

Sample Branding Guide Designs

2. Evergreen content

Blogs are sources of traffic from potential clients. They must be core to your evergreen content strategy so they must be well-written with engaging visuals to encourage more readers to share. Images you can include in a blog or article are:

• Hero images
• Design Samples
• Product Samples
• Infographics
• Newsletter graphics

Sample designs for evergreen content

3. Internal design needs

Aside from potential clients, you might have the need to engage your current team or employees. They are your most loyal brand ambassadors after all. You need to have the following designed according to your brand:

• Internal announcements
• Certificate or banner for employee of the month
• Holiday-specific graphics for your website
• Company merch or swag for your team

Sample designs for internal use

4. Image resizing for different platforms

I’m sure you’ve created content already in the past months. Don’t let it go to waste. 

Repurpose them into more engaging infographics or designs you can re-upload in social media. Now with the emergence of new channels, it’s also important to have everything resized accordingly.

Prepare for the rainy day

Rain favours the prepared. The unprepared ones get drenched and overwhelmed. Right now you might think you have no recurring design needs because your clients say so, but remember, that you have your own company to look after.

Don’t deny yourself the convenience of an on-demand design subscription. Save yourself from the frustration of endless hiring and rehiring, looking for alternatives, and settling for mediocre designs. Restart your subscription now!