We know that budgets are tight for many businesses right now, and there’s intense pressure to justify every penny spent. The luxury of spending months refining a campaign or designing the perfect brand is no longer an option.

We get it. It’s a lot to take on, especially when you’re asked to do more with less.

This makes “good enough” design a practical solution for bootstrapped marketing departments. It means projects keep moving forward and costs stay lower.

But there’s a tradeoff that comes with having marketing designs that are good enough, and the question then becomes: “Does this short-term remedy actually cost us more in the future?”

Companies have drastically increased the use of AI within their organizations since 2023. We have a few thoughts about this, since there’s a lot of discussion around utilizing Generative AI not as a tool to enhance design, but as a method to replace the expertise behind the creatives that produce it.

Has “good enough” become the default?

Over the past year, we’ve heard from current, past, and prospective clients that they are stressed out as they balance running their businesses, keeping their marketing up-to-date, staying within budget, and figuring out how to use new technologies.

Many of them (and maybe even you) are in survival mode right now. The economic landscape is shaky, making long-term planning difficult. The focus is on what can be done in the short term, as brand building and campaign initiatives get pushed further down the list.

Unfortunately, many of these short-term plans involve bringing in AI to perform tasks that would typically require the expertise of designers, strategists, marketers, developers, and subject-matter experts. And while some of the results that come from AI get you 70% of the way to what you want, it’s still not the full 100% that you expect.

And while you can probably call it a day with that 70% and move on to the next thing, will that design that Generative AI produced do the hard job of effectively communicating with your human buyers?

The risks of good enough design for businesses

While companies made significant investments in AI, there’s still the question of whether it has made their teams more productive. There’s no question that for smaller, repetitive tasks, yes, AI saves hours of time. But there’s still a lot left to be desired for complex projects.

For instance, AI can accelerate photo editing and ideation. But if you lean on AI too heavily, you can run into issues like:

Inconsistent branding – If you use AI-produced designs as reference material for future campaigns, it’s easier for these inconsistencies to take hold and dilute the brand.

Bland designs – Good design not only gets people’s attention, but it also speaks to their wants and needs. On the other hand, a design campaign created by Generative AI might look nice, but it may have an Uncanny Valley feel that lacks any soul or connection to buyers.

Lack of nuanced strategy – Even when you think the AI gets it, the best prompt can be misinterpreted. If the AI tool doesn’t have the proper strategic input (e.g., a prompt), the output (e.g., a marketing piece) will reflect this.

Let’s look at an example. You create a logo for your startup using an AI tool. It looks okay and passes the professional sniff test.

But.

It’s generic. And ultimately, generic design doesn’t lead to the longevity of one of your most important and valuable pieces of your identity.

Delivering great designs on a smaller budget

What should you do if you don’t have a large budget and are under the gun to produce? We’ve written before about how you can prioritize deliverables, what affects design budgets, and how to keep your brand consistent with limited resources.

Even if your budget isn’t huge, it’s not impossible to produce designs that work hard for your business and brand.

Our team helps you do this by understanding the goals you’re working towards and prioritizing which deliverables will have the biggest reach without blowing through your budget. From there, we can focus on creating polished designs based on strategy, not vibes.

Going beyond good enough

Being smart with your budget doesn’t mean skimping on strategy. Your company’s design strategy is what will take your marketing designs from good enough to delivering real, measurable results for your business.

The economic climate that we’re in now demands that every dollar spent has to have a reason for leaving the company, and live up to the promise of bringing back a tangible return.

Having a partner in your corner who understands what it takes to create designs steeped in strategy gives you a long-term advantage over those who are okay with playing it safe. But more importantly, makes the space for your company to present its brand as fearless, even in the face of uncertainty.