Graphic Design Business Plan Template

Do you want to start graphic design business?

Are you planning to start your own company of graphics designing? Well, if you are creative and also have the ability to bring your creativity to the table then this is definitely the right business for you.

Graphic designing is probably one of the skills which are needed in nearly every other business. If you are not convinced, just look around you and you will see graphics everywhere. Graphic designing is needed in branding, posters, print advertisement, product packaging, publications (newspapers, books, magazines etc.), handbills, billboards, websites, in short nearly all areas. This business has undoubtedly a lot of market potential and a need for continuously emerging new and innovative minds.

The biggest benefit of starting this business is that it requires the least capital investment as compared to many other businesses. You can start this business in a small office with a small team and a little inventory comprising of laptops, and a few office and stationery products. The second benefit is that this business starts yielding a profit as soon as it is launched and has the least amount of risk associated with it, provided that you are creative and plan your business effectively.

So, before you move on to starting this venture, you will have to prepare a comprehensive graphics design business plans which will establish the basis of your company’s future operations and decisions. If you are wondering how to write one then here we are providing you the business plan for a graphic designing business startup named ‘PixelCo’.

Executive Summary

2.1 The Business

PixelCo will be a bonded, insured and licensed graphic design business striving to cultivate relevant and meaningful connections between brands and people by our unparalleled visuals and graphic designing services.
PixelCo will be located in the Manhattan borough of the New York City and will be owned by Angela Gori, a world-renowned Graphic Designer. Gori has been associated with some of the world’s biggest graphics designing companies and was Chief Creative Officer for the American Marketing Association, D.C. Chapter for last 6 years. She has worked with about 14 out of top Fortune 100 companies as well as various influential associations, consumer brands, educational institutions and government agencies.

A 200 square feet office has already been acquired on lease in the center of the main commercial district of the downtown Manhattan. The place was formerly used as an office for a small IT firm. Some changes and interior designing woodwork are also required and a contractor has been hired for this purpose.

2.2 Management

The success of a startup heavily depends on its staff and management so make sure to plan it before thinking about how to start your own graphic design business. Gori has always been extremely passionate to start a graphic design company of her own even from her college days, that’s she had planned everything beforehand.

The main management body of the company will comprise of sales executives, graphic artists, cartoon and animation specialists, website developers and customer representatives. The team will be led and managed by Gori herself, who is well experienced in fulfilling all business plans for graphic design needs. The staff will be hired one month before the launch of startup and will be trained by Gori.

2.3 Customers

Our target market is the corporate sector, institutions, and organizations located in Manhattan and other parts of the world because anybody from anywhere can acquire our services through our official website and can pay us via PayPal, Payoneer, or online bank transfer. We will provide all sort of graphic designing business mainly website design, logo design, advertising material design, animations design, etc.
We have priced all our services in the similar ranges as of our competitors except for brand logos whose price have been set 20% less so as to encourage sales. For an express delivery of 24 hours, an additional 10% amount will be charged on all of our services.

2.4 Business Target

We aim to become the best graphic designer in the New York City within next five years of our startup. Our main business targets to be achieved as milestones over the course of next three years are as follows:

• To achieve the net profit margin of $10k per month by the end of the first year, $15k per month by the end of the second year, and $25k per month by the end of the third year
• To balance the initial cost of the startup with earned profits by the end of the first year
• To open up a second company office by the end of three years in San Francisco, and a third office by the end of five years in Los Angeles

2.5 Keys to Success

We can achieve our business targets by following these keys to success:

• Successful marketing of our services through various platforms so as to attract as maximum customers as possible
• Ultimate client satisfaction by providing high-quality work and unlimited revisions until the client is fully satisfied
• Unparalleled customer service so as to build long-term working relationships with the clients

Business plan for investors

Document for attracting equity financing for a startup or existing business. These business plans will comply with even the most complex investor requirements

Company Summary

3.1 Company Owner

PixelCo will be owned by Angela Gori, a world-renowned Graphic Designer. After completing her Masters of Art in Graphic Designing from University of Illinois, Chicago, Gori remained associated with some of the world’s biggest graphics designing companies and was Chief Creative Officer for the American Marketing Association, D.C. Chapter for last 6 years. She has also been recognized with the prestigious FOLIO: Top Women in Media award for her achievements as a leader. So far, she has worked with almost 14 out of top Fortune 100 companies as well as various influential associations, consumer brands, educational institutions and government agencies.

3.2 Why the Business is being started

Gori pursued her passion by serving in some of the biggest graphic designing companies of the United States but soon she realized that she can establish her name in this industry only by her own setup. That’s when she decided to start graphic design business completely by herself. Now, she will have all the freedom needed to realize even the craziest of her innovative ideas.

3.3 How the Business will be started

Starting a graphic design business is very easy since it doesn’t require as much inventory as needed in other businesses. Gori has planned everything about her business including the required personnel and inventory. The company will procure following things for the startup.

• Office furniture including three filing cabinets, four work desks, couch and chairs for customer waiting area, a round table with chairs for meeting area
• Four computers with color printers, scanners, and graphic tablets
• Graphic designing and other related software including Illustrator, Freehand, Photoshop, Quark, Traffic Office Manager, Font Management Utilities, and Microsoft Project
• A small library of requisite journals and magazines
• Assorted office stationary and brochures
• A strong internet connection and office telecom systems

The financial experts have forecasted following costs for expenses, assets, investment, and bank loans for the business plan.

The detailed start-up requirements, start-up funding, start-up expenses, total assets, total funding required, total liabilities, total planned investment, total capital and liabilities as forecasted by experts, is given below:

Services for customers

PixelCo will mainly provide visual communication and graphic designing services to small startups as well as established companies. We want to compete with all leading graphic design businesses in the United States, which is why we have formed a quality assurance team that will ensure that all of our services meet our customers’ expectations. Our products and services are listed below:

• Website design and graphics
• Print media design including newspapers, magazines, and books
• Advertising and corporate branding including brochures, infographics, posters and product packaging
• Logo design and visual identity services
• Illustrations and presentations
• Animations and cartoons production

Our services can either be acquired by visiting our office in downtown Manhattan or by our official website.

Marketing Analysis of graphic design business

The most important component of an effective graphic design business plans is its accurate marketing analysis that’s why Gori acquired the services of marketing experts to help her through this phase. It is only after this stage that a good graphic design business plans could have been developed. After identifying the trends of graphic design market in the New York City, the marketing experts and analysts also helped her to select the best site for establishing the main office of the company.

The success or failure of a business totally depends upon its marketing strategy which can only be developed on the basis of accurate marketing analysis. There are four main steps to carry out an accurate graphic design marketing analysis which are to identify the current market trends, identify your target audience and potential customers, set out the business targets to achieve, and finally set the prices of your products and services. Marketing analysis is extremely important because the planning of many subsequent components depends on it and it also forms the basis of the business strategy of marketing for graphic designers or graphic designing companies. Therefore, it must be considered before developing the planned business model graphic.

5.1 Market Trends

Graphic design is non-verbal or visual communication. Anything that cannot be done verbally but needs to be communicated must be put into some form of design so as to send the message across. If you look around you will find yourself surrounded by graphics, the picture on your coffee mug, the magazine cover, the pack of gum on your desk, and even the typeface in a TV ad are all examples of graphic design business plans.

That’s why graphic design industry is one of the biggest and the fastest growing industries in the world. As of 2017, there were more than 335,000 graphic design companies in the world including small and large companies as well as individual graphic design freelancers. The annual revenue earned by these businesses was over $62 Billion. Moreover, this industry is one of the few industries which have seen a constant increase in revenue along with the increase in business locations with time.
Similarly, graphic designing is one of the popular businesses in the United States. According to the US Bureau of Labor, the graphic design industry employed more than 280,000 people in the US as of 2008 including web designers and other print designers as well.

This growth is attributed to the increase in other businesses in the United States since all businesses require graphic design services to appear professionally to the public. Graphic designing services are required by every business for its advertisement, promotion, and marketing and as other business increases, the market for graphic design business plans also increases. After identifying these market trends, it is clearly evident that the graphic design business is always blooming and can be immensely profitable provided that you plan your business successfully.

5.2 Marketing Segmentation

Our target market is the corporate sector located in the Central Business District of the Manhattan which provides many opportunities to us. Manhattan houses more than 300,000 businesses as of 2014, including local, national and multinational businesses. On average, these businesses make millions of dollars every year and can easily spend extravagantly on their graphic designing needs for the sake of promoting their brands.

In order to develop a good marketing strategy, it is crucial to analyze the market segmentation. A successful and efficient marketing strategy can only be developed after we completely know our potential customers. Our experts have identified the following type of target audience which can become our future consumers:

The detailed marketing segmentation of our target audience is as follows:

5.2.1 Corporate Sector:

The biggest consumer of our services will be the corporate sector located in the Downtown Manhattan and in various parts of the world. There are hundreds of local, national and multinational businesses and companies located within 15 km radius of our office including product manufacturers and distributors, real estate owners, developers, and contractors, research and development companies, banks and insurance companies, hotels, restaurants and food companies, IT and software development firms, branding and advertising agencies.

These companies and businesses require the services of graphic designers for fulfilling their visual communicative needs such as to create/update their brand logos and create/update the graphics on their websites or social media pages. These companies need graphic designers for developing an instant connection between their target audience and their products/services, and also for producing visual aids and informative images (e.g. menu for a restaurant, infographics) that help the customers in communication and various other purposes. Utilizing an appropriate graphic design can improve every aspect of a business and can positively impact clients, vendors, and employees.

Considering the need of graphic designing for these businesses and their annual average income, our experts have forecasted this target group to contribute the biggest portion of our revenue. Hence our marketing strategy will be specifically tailored to attract this customer group.

5.2.2 Institutions & Organizations:

Our second target group comprises of various institutions and organizations located in Manhattan including government and public-sector organizations, schools, colleges and universities, political parties, religious and sports organizations, and non-profit organizations. These organizations also need graphic design services for promoting their messages and other purposes.

5.2.3 Print & Digital Media:

Our third target group consists of print and digital media companies located in Manhattan. These companies include but are not limited to television studios, video production companies, publication companies (for graphics designing of newspapers, magazines, and books). This group, due to its specific nature, requires a lot of graphic designing work and will thus become the second biggest consumer of our services.
The detailed market analysis of our potential customers is given in the following table:

5.3 Business Target

Our target is to balance the initial cost of startup within the first year of our launch and to become the best graphic designer of the New York City within next five years of our startup.

5.4 Product Pricing

Product and service pricing is one of the most important factors in deciding the strategy for an event planning business. After considering the market demands, we have priced all our services in the similar ranges as of our competitors except for brand logos whose price have been set 20% less so as to encourage sales. The reason behind our pricing policy is to achieve the minimum attractive rate of return which would not be possible in case of offering our services at low prices. Various packages are priced according to the delivery time and number of revisions. For an express delivery of 24 hours, an additional 10% amount will be charged on all of our services.

Strategy

After identifying the graphic designer demographics, market trends, market demand, and the potential customers of the startup, the next step is to define an effective strategy to target graphic design customers. A successful strategy can only be developed after setting specific marketing goals, defining milestones to achieve those goals, carrying out a competitive analysis to know what is missing in your current competitors, and finally develop the strategy for attracting your potential customers.

6.1 Marketing Goals

• Website Traffic & Conversions: Our goal would be to achieve a 20% increase in website traffic each month and to get at least an 80% conversion rate, i.e. to turn 80% of our website visitors into our customers.
• Engagement Rate & Social Media Following: Engagement rates indicate the frequency at which people interact with your posts. Our goal would be to increase engagement rates and our social media following so as to decrease the response time to customers.
• Brand Awareness & Recognition: A business’s reputation builds over time. Our goal will be to get featured in the local news or on a certain website by a popular blogger within first 3 months of our launch.
• Google Search Ranking: Google search rankings is one of the most important factors in deciding the success of a business, especially a startup that’s why we will play special emphasis on it. Our goal would be to rank on the first page of Google within 3 months of our launch.

6.2 Milestones

The important milestones to achieve our marketing as well as business goals are given in the following Gantt Chart.

6.3 Competitive Analysis

The graphic design business plans is undoubtedly one of the most competitive industries of the United States. With the increasing number of graphic design startups and freelancers, the competition is getting stiffer by the day. One has to be highly creative and come up with innovative designs and concepts so as to survive and grow in this industry. Our competitive advantage lies in the power and dedication of our team. We have a team of creative and highly proficient graphic designers, a team with excellent qualifications and experience various niche areas in the graphic design industry. Our second biggest competitive advantage will be the leadership of Gori since she is a world-renowned graphic designer and has worked with 14 out of top Fortune 100 companies.

6.4 Sales Strategy

After carrying out a detailed analysis, our experts came up with the following brilliant ideas to advertise and sell ourselves.

• We will advertise our business in relevant business magazines, newspapers, TV stations, and social media.
• We will introduce our company to corporate organizations and key stakeholders by sending introductory letters alongside our brochures.
• We will offer a 25% discount on our services for the first three months of our launch.
• We will offer a 40% discount on all of our services on Client’s referral.

6.5 Sales Forecast

Considering the quality of our services and our exceptional marketing strategy, our sales pattern is expected to increase with years. By analyzing our market segmentation strategy, our experts have forecasted the following sales on a yearly basis which are summarized in the column charts.

The detailed information about sales forecast, total unit sales, total sales is given in the following table:

6.5.1 Sales Monthly

6.5.2 Sales Yearly

Web plan

With the advent of the internet, it has become very easy for a graphic design company to work for those clients who are located in any other part of the world. That’s why most of the graphic design companies located in the United States have their biggest clients in other countries of the world. This trend is somewhat unique to the graphic design industry and is probably one of the reasons for its rapid growth and expansion. Even any of you can start your own graphic design business either through a freelancing website or by creating your own website.

7.1 Website Marketing Strategy:

The international graphic design business is only possible through a well-developed website. A website is just like a digital platform where the clients and service providers can interact, make contracts and even send/receive payments. In addition to that, it is an established fact that a well-ranked website on Google directly or indirectly leads to increased sales. That’s why it is very important to develop an attractive website for a graphic designing business plans.

7.2 Website Development:

Gori has a team of website developers, led by Anna Rick, who would be responsible for developing and maintaining the official website of PixelCo. Anna would also ensure that our website remains on the first page of Google because you don’t exist if you are not ranked on the first page of Google. Since this task will be done by our team so no additional cost will be incurred in the startup.

Personnel plan

Personnel plan, like all other plans, is an important component of effective design business plans so it must be planned before you even think about how to market your graphic design business. Its importance is due to the fact that success of any business significantly depends upon its employees. It is never easy to estimate the number and type of staff needed for a company before it is even launched therefore it is advisable to seek the help of HR experts to get through this phase. Gori acquired the services of experts to help her develop the following personnel plan for her company.

8.1 Company Staff

Gori will act as the General Manager of the company and will initially hire following people before she moves to start a graphic design business:

• 1 Accountant to maintain financial and other records
• 4 Sales Executives responsible for marketing and discovering new ventures
• 10 Graphic Artists for designing logos, infographics, brochures, and other graphics
• 2 Cartoon and Animation Specialists for designing animation for various purposes
• 4 Website Developers led by Anna for graphical work pertaining to websites
• 4 Customer Representatives to interact with customers and record their orders
• 1 Front Desk Officer to act as a receptionist
• 1 Security Officer

We will ensure that only qualified, creative, hardworking, customer-centric are hired and they are always ready to work in order to help us build a prosperous business benefitting all stakeholders (owner, workforce as well as customers). To ensure the best quality service, all employees will be selected through vigorous testing and will be trained for a month before starting their jobs.

8.2 Average Salary of Employees

The following table shows the data about employees and their salaries for next three years. The salaries of the employees for the second and third year are estimated by our experts on the basis of our forecasted expansion. The salaries will show a deviation if the company expands more or less than the forecasted growth rate.

Financial Plan

After deciding the strategy and personnel plan of the company, the next step is to develop a detailed map about the financial projections covering all aspects of the company. Just like the planning of other aspects, you must prepare a financial plan before you start thinking about how to start graphic design business. The financial plan should craft a detailed map about the cost of startup, inventory, payroll, equipment, rent, utilities and how these costs will be covered by the earned profits. So, before starting a graphic design business, make sure to carry out a detailed profit and loss analysis. The company financial plan outlines the development of the company over the next three years and is specifically developed to achieve both the company’s short-term and long-term objectives.

9.1 Important Assumptions

The company’s financial projections are forecasted on the basis of following assumptions. These assumptions are quite conservative and are also expected to show deviation but to a limited level such that the company’s major financial strategy will not be affected.

9.2 Brake-even Analysis

The following graph shows the company’s Brake-even Analysis.

The following table shows the company’s Brake-even Analysis.

9.3 Projected Profit and Loss

The following charts show the company’s expected Profit and Loss situation on the monthly and yearly basis.

9.3.1 Profit Monthly

The following graph shows the monthly profit, as forecasted by the company’s financial experts.

9.3.2 Profit Yearly

The following graph shows the yearly profit, as forecasted by the company’s financial experts.

9.3.3 Gross Margin Monthly

The following graph shows the monthly gross margin, as forecasted by the company’s financial experts.

9.3.4 Gross Margin Yearly

The following graph shows the yearly gross margin, as forecasted by the company’s financial experts.

The following table shows detailed information about profit and loss, and total cost of sales.

9.4 Projected Cash Flow

The following column diagram shows the projected cash flow.

9.5 Projected Balance Sheet

The following table shows detailed data about pro forma cash flow, subtotal cash from operations, subtotal cash received, sub-total spent on operations, subtotal cash spent.
The following projected balance sheet shows data about total current assets, total long-term assets, total assets, subtotal current liabilities, total liabilities, total capital, total liabilities and capital.

9.6 Business Ratios

The following table shows data about business ratios, ratio analysis, total assets, net worth.

Download Graphic Design Business Plan Sample in pdf

Professional OGS capital writers specialized also in themes such as cybersecurity business plan, internet business plan, dating website business, online retail store business plan, online store business plan, business plan for a video game company and etc.