Why experience still wins
There’s a pattern we’ve noticed over the years, and it tends to play out in a very similar way.
A business starts by creating its own marketing. Canva, templates, quick layouts — all perfectly reasonable tools when you’re getting things off the ground. It’s quick, accessible, and for a while, it does the job. But as the business grows and the volume of marketing increases, things start to feel a little less straightforward.
We’ve seen exactly that with one of our clients, Digby Fine English, who initially came to us through our sister company Chichester Print for some print requirements. At that stage, the focus was simply on getting materials produced properly – making sure what had been created translated well into print and arrived as expected. Over time, though, the conversation naturally evolved.
When you’re producing business cards, leaflets, tasting cards, brochures, adverts, vouchers, roller banners, letterheads and folders on a regular basis, you begin to notice the small inconsistencies. The little adjustments that take longer than they should. The uncertainty around whether something is quite right, or just acceptable. And more often than not, that’s the point where DIY tools start to become less of a solution and more of a frustration.
What’s interesting is that clients don’t necessarily stop using Canva altogether. Instead, it becomes part of the process in a different way. Rather than trying to create finished artwork, it’s used to explore ideas, share a direction, or give us a sense of what they’re aiming for. From there, we take it forward and turn those ideas into properly considered, consistent design that works across everything they need.
With Digby, that shift has meant we’ve been able to support them across a wide range of materials, not just in terms of how they look, but how they function in the real world. Each item needs to feel like part of the same story, whether it’s something small like a tasting card or something more substantial like a brochure or display piece.
That’s the part that often gets underestimated. Good design isn’t just about making something look better. It’s about understanding how it will be used, how it will be printed, how it sits alongside everything else, and how it represents the brand consistently wherever it appears. It also removes a huge amount of time and uncertainty for the client. Instead of second-guessing layouts, adjusting margins, or worrying about whether something will print correctly, they know it’s being handled properly from start to finish.
And when you combine that with our experience in print management, the benefits become even clearer. We’re not just designing in isolation – we’re thinking ahead to how each piece will be produced, choosing the right materials and finishes, and making sure there are no surprises when it lands. That kind of experience is difficult to replicate with templates alone. What tends to happen is that, over time, clients begin to place more and more trust in the process. Not because of a single job, but because of the consistency across everything that follows.
It’s a gradual shift rather than a sudden change. From doing it themselves… to having it done properly. And once that trust is there, it becomes one of the most valuable parts of the relationship.
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