Graphic Design Expert Explains MedTech Brand Building | Pressure Tested

What is brand and what is brand building?

Well, I see brand as it’s the whole package, really. It’s what you’re all about. It’s how you look, it’s how you feel, and it’s how you’re perceived to other people, whether that’s as a person, I guess, or as a company, and what that company stands for. And in terms of brand building, it’s getting that message out there. It’s making sure that it’s the right message, it fits with what you want your brand to be, and there’s lots and lots of different ways to help do that.

Is brand building relevant in the medical device industry?

Yes. Straight off the bat, I think it’s relevant in any industry. If you want to build that trust, build that customer base, build that continuation of business, you need to strive to get that brand working harder, and hopefully everyone’s on board with your vision.

So why do testing laboratories need graphic design resource?

Well, just to help improve things, help things look good. There’s a lot of tools out there these days. There’s a lot of AI in the world, and there’s a lot of templates and things, but knowing what’s right and what’s sort of right isn’t always the same sort of thing. If you want to look professional, if you want to get that next stage in your customer base again, you want people to believe what you’re putting out there, I think good graphic design helps with that. It really sort of pushes the boundaries. It separates you, I guess, from a company who’s trying to do something and the company what’s doing something really well.Sometimes we’re over-reliant on so many templates out there. We think that everyone can do it, and what you end up is not the right sort of thing.

So what difference does it make to testing?

Well, that’s tricky, but I guess like anything, if the brand feels good, the design feels good, you’re going to feel good. You’re going to appreciate what you’re doing. You’re going to feel better about it. If the results work alongside good design, if it all looks good and polished at the end of it all, and it gives you an extra bit of a buzz, it takes what you’ve achieved and hopefully elevates that that little bit further.

Why does visual clarity matter in med tech?

Well, I guess in terms of the sector itself, it’s a very tough area to be. There’s a lot to understand. There’s a lot to see and do. So visualising that, making it make sense, it plays a big part in getting that A to B almost, and get that understanding from your client’s point of view, from the scientist’s point of view. You can’t explain everything all the time, but you can break it down. You can do things differently and hopefully, yeah, the clarity of the design helps get that message across.

So  how does design impact trust?

I guess, again, it just builds on what you’ve got as a foundation. You need to look good. Again, you need to build potentially off what your clients are feeding back to you. In our experience, trust is very important to how we’re perceived and how we get our customers and clients through the door. If we don’t look good, we don’t act on what we’re saying, it can all fall down. So design in that sense has to marry what we’re saying, what we’re preaching. It needs to feel professional as well, because if they don’t, yeah, it all sort of falls apart. But I think that’s the way forward, really.

Okay, so what makes technical visuals effective?

I think simplifying them, making things easier to understand. Not everyone’s got a PhD. I certainly haven’t.

So I have to sort of look at the information I’m given. I don’t necessarily understand all of it, but I’ll make sure that I’m aware of what the basics are, what the key messages are, and we’ll pull that apart.

We’ll take the core information out of that, and we’ll sort of give it into bite-sized chunks, segment it, give it a little bit of excitement, I suppose, or some icons or some way to sort of help understand it, and then that just, yeah, it just helps get that message across in an easier sort of fashion, like anything, really.

Okay, so what mistakes weaken brand authority?

I think inconsistency, really, and pushing sort of the wrong messaging at the wrong time. Making it feel coherent is the way forward.

If you’re going to push a message and push a brand, it needs to have that repetition. It needs to have that brand awareness to it and sort of the, yeah, the similarities throughout. And if you stop doing any of that, if you start going in one direction and another direction, you just sort of start pulling yourself apart, and the trust sort of just falls apart with it, really.

What role does consistency play in brand building?

Like I said, if you’re completely all over the place, it starts to fragment, starts to fall apart, but consistency is key.

You keep your messaging, you keep the tone of voice, keep your brand, keep your colors, and people will start to understand and recognise those through various media, what you’re putting out there.

And the more they see it, the more repetition, the more they start to believe in what you’re saying. And then again, if they see something in a similar sort of vein, what you’ve done, it’s all part of that same package.

And you’ve already won the trust at the start of the journey, and all it is then is continuation as they go along.

Okay, so how do visuals support sales?

I guess visuals and the whole design element of what we do, it opens the door.

It sort of warms up the customer and the clients without sort of seeing that. It’s almost like a cold call. But if there’s an element of design already in place and sort of brand awareness and brand building, they start to get a feel for what your company’s about before the call happens or even before they start to approach you.

If it fits with what they’re thinking or what the messaging, if it resonates, you’ve sort of got half the job done.

They’re potentially approaching you then because they like what they see. Or if you are being called up, they’ve heard of you, they’ve seen you, and it just makes the conversations a lot easier.

In my view, what are the key marketing assets?

I think, well, we’ve probably mentioned it, but a good brand, good visibility, and easy-to-understand language and messaging, really.If you get too complex, too complicated, too many bells and whistles, it sort of fuzzes the truth or the message what you’re trying to get across.

Keep it clean, keep it consistent, and just be honest, really. I think we do it well with Test Labs. We put ourselves out there. Nothing’s faked. Everything’s real as possible, and I think that resonates with our clients and the way they come back to us because they know what they’re going to get is real. And that goes a long way, especially in today’s world where you’ve got AI kicking in and doing a lot of things, what it can do. But being real and truthful, I think still has its value.

Am I responsible for how our reports look like?

I’d hope to think so, but sometimes they sneak through. But no, we, again, building the brand, we’ll have templates. We have dos and don’ts on how we sort of publish information. I do oversee a lot of that, so I try and get my hands and eyes over things just to make sure that what we put out into the world is as good as humanly possible. Does it fit the brand? Does it fit our messaging? Does it fit our ethos, really, of how things should look and how we take it forward?

If the answer is yes, then we’re doing a good job. If it’s not, then we need to look at things, and improve things. Again, design and branding is always sort of flexible. If we feel there’s a way to improve, we will do that without losing sight of what our messaging and our cause is all about.

What makes a powerful LinkedIn visual?

I guess it needs to stop the scroll, doesn’t it, really? Something what’s impactful, something what’s eye-catching, whether that’s a video or just bright, vibrant graphics. I guess with any social platform, it needs to capture the attention.

It needs to resonate. So potentially, the messaging is key. Is it attracting the right eyes on it?
It’s great if everyone’s liking it, but if your key market isn’t liking it or reacting to it, it needs to improve. But again, the main thing is to stop them in their tracks, let the viewer read it, and hopefully click through or do whatever call to action is needed, and get that reaction going.

How do we increase engagement in the MedTech sector?

Well, I guess it’s doing things like this. It’s doing things what you do anyway, or what you see in your general life. Everyone’s on social, everyone’s on YouTube. We need to tap into that sort of consumerism of what you’d see in the supermarkets, what you’d see on the television at home, and take the little snippets of that what people easily understand and copy, in a sense. There’s no reinvention of the wheel here. Like I say, these videos, great example. It’s putting publications out there. It’s getting insight from real people.

And we don’t need to overthink it. We just need to do what people enjoy and what people consume.

So  what defines a strong visual identity?

I guess a good coherent package of logo type, font, color, language, and direction, really. It’s fairly succinct to those, I think. If that all works and it all keeps consistent, yeah, you’re onto a winner.

Did I design the websites?

I believe I had impact and input into the layouts and things of the websites. Things like websites, again, there’s a lot more that goes into it than just one person’s view. Obviously, we’ve got the brand there, what we keep consistent throughout, the logos, the colors, the fonts. But again, it’s following trends. It’s seeing what works, what doesn’t, what looks good, and hopefully our website looks good. If you haven’t seen it, why not?

So how would you design for technical audiences?

I think that the key thing here is getting the information right. I’m not an expert in everything, but putting the information down, what is correct and checked, double-checked, making sure that basically the T’s are crossed and the I’s are dotted and things. And what is put out there is correct to the best ability. What you don’t want there is little mistakes, what people will then pick up on, and then it starts that they don’t believe what you’re saying.

There’s a lot of stock footage of people using microscopes with them the wrong way around. And it’s those silly little things what would make people smile, I suppose, but also get professionals quite annoyed if we’re trying to promote something, but we’re showing it completely wrong. So yeah, I think it’s all the devil’s in the detail when it comes to that.

So  what makes content memorable?

Hopefully, this is memorable, and you come back for more. But I think a bit of humor. I always think that humor and emotions play a key part in what you remember, what you like, what you don’t like. So yeah, I think emotions is where it’s at, really. And again, things that are real. People like to see other people, and hopefully, that’s the way.

What  is the most underrated creative asset?

Crikey. I guess it’s the ability to, well, it’s getting stuck in, really, and learning the various industries or the sectors what you’re in. Because without knowing what you’re talking about, you can’t design for it. You can’t publish anything. So it’s learning, basically, and stretching your knowledge, basically, of what you know, what you don’t know. Because like I said before, I think if things aren’t right in terms of the facts, people are going to switch off.

What are we working on at Test Labs at the moment?

Well, brand building is up there. We’re looking to get into a lot more video content across this year. So things like what you’re seeing now, hopefully a bit more polished from other people than myself, but yeah, a lot more video, I think, to try and get that engagement.

Hopefully, get people interested, get to see the nitty-gritty of what we do at Test Labs, and again, maybe what we deliver becomes further down the line for the end user. And then, yeah, again, a lot of various other little bits and pieces. We’ve got our Outlook, we’ve got our website updates, we’ve got a lot of new content coming. We’re going to be very busy over the next few months, getting this all together and getting it out there.

Well, that’s it from me. I think I’ve been thoroughly pressure-tested. I Don’t want to do that too often, but if you want to have a go, get in touch.

Check out our website, testlabsuk.com, and yeah, drop us a message.

See you soon.