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Learnings From a Visual Designer in the B2B World
Transitioning to a career in business-to-business? Here are my insights.
For nearly the last two years I’ve been working as a visual designer for a large professional services firm. Prior to this, I was a freelance designer, sprinkled with a short stint at a legal tech startup, and an internship at a carpet and rug design and manufacturing company. As a freelancer I’ve primarily worked with small businesses in the health and wellness industry. This diverse range has given me the opportunity to understand the subtle and major differences in designing for different audiences.
My most recent professional experience has been the most heavily focused on B2B, a world in which I quickly learned has its own unique set of rules.
B2C is business-to-consumer sales and marketing, whereas B2B is when a business aims to develop professional relationships and sell its products or services to other businesses.
As a designer with post-secondary education in the field of design and moderate years of experience, I found that learned design foundations and principles are ultimately the same in both B2C and B2B. By this I’m referring to colour theory, typography, layout and grid design, and so on. There are certain foundational elements that are always consistent among good design, even if not obvious at…