In their latest Design Insights feature, Alan Sawyers and Nathan Cockburn are joined by Nathan's younger brother - and the youngest member of the AS Design team - Josh.
Not all projects we work on start from scratch. Clients often come to us with a logo made in Canva, a site built on a free template, or branding put together before an idea was fully formed. They’re not starting from square one – but they know it’s time to level up.
This is what we refer to as design elevation. We’ve had so much feedback from clients this year who have looked at what we’ve done for other clients based on something they’d started or that already existed – and instantly saw the value in what we do.
Seeing the potential
We don’t dismiss DIY work. In fact, we respect the effort and the use of available tools.
Alan said: “I started building websites in raw HTML and whilst it’s useful to understand core coding languages to a certain degree, there are tools that negate the need.”
But we also know when something needs structure, strategy, and polish. Elevation is about taking the spark of an idea and giving it the professional treatment it deserves.
Canva doesn’t make you a designer
Tools like Canva have empowered more people to design, but using templates isn’t the same as design thinking.
Alan said: “A good design tool doesn’t replace talent or experience. Canva is great for quick and easy, but it doesn’t give you strategy, hierarchy, or originality.”
Nathan added: “We often see Canva designs where everything looks ‘okay’ but nothing feels cohesive. We turn those visuals into something people will actually remember.”
Automation can’t replace insight
AI tools are powerful, and we use them ourselves for ideas and automation. But they don’t replace taste, judgment, or experience.
Alan said: “We recently rebranded a client’s business based on what we’d seen happening over three years. The business was no longer the same, and the brand didn’t reflect the change. The rebrand was based on real insight.”
Nathan added: “Some of the web projects we’ve been working on lately are the most complex we’ve ever done. One in particular – for a client whose new site is going to completely reflect her personality and approach to business – is not something that can be automated or templated just yet.”
Elevation, even when you’re learning
Even the youngest member of the AS Design team is learning the difference between getting something done and making it exceptional.
Josh, who works part-time while at university, said: “I’m still learning the design side, but even I can see the difference it makes. I recently took a Word document used for training that looked plain but was functional and did its job. I gave it a proper layout, added the brand colours, fonts, and iconography – and suddenly it looked like it was part of the client’s brand.”
Elevated can still be simple
Sometimes, designs are over-complicated and busy. Elevation can be about simplifying that.
Alan said: “Another client recently told me that an ad we designed for an event brochure was the best one in there. Biased, maybe, but the reasoning was that most of the others were packed with so much information, there was no room left for branding.”
Nathan added: “What people don’t see is the amount of thinking that goes into making something look simple. With every project, we’re balancing design, audience, functionality, and the emotional response it needs to trigger.”
Josh said: “I’ve learned quickly that there’s a huge difference between something that works and something that wows. We don’t just fix things that are broken, we take things that already function well enough and find ways to make them stand out, feel aligned with the client’s brand, and actually leave an impression.”
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