Let’s say I wanted a cake. I really like the big fancy cakes you see at the bakery, but I can’t justify spending all that money on one. After all, it’s just a matter of mixing up a bunch of ingredients and cooking them, how hard can that be? So I think to myself, I’ll just make my own cake, it will be just as good, cheaper, and no one will know the difference.

So I get some flour, milk, eggs, sugar, water and a few other ingredients that I found in my pantry and start mixing them vigorously in a big bowl. How much of each? I don’t know. I just put in what I felt like putting in, because how important could it really be? It’s just a cake, right? Ok, so everything is mixed up pretty well but I feel like something else could be added, and why not? It’s my cake. Well, I like steak, which I just happen to have left over in the refrigerator, along with some tuna casserole, a half of a quesadilla and a handful of peanut butter cups, so I toss these into the mix and stir it some more. I like them all, so my cake should turn out great!

Now it’s time to bake my glorious cake. I set the oven to 250 degrees and toss my masterpiece in for about 30 minutes or so. In the mean time, I’m thinking to myself how it’s ludicrous that these bakeries charge so much money for something that is clearly so easy to do. Look at me, with not a single cooking class under my belt I’ve created my own recipe on the fly, and in less than an hour I will be enjoying my very own scrumptious cake.

It’s been about 30 minutes, so I take my cake out. I had totally forgotten that I had some friends coming over, but what a perfect opportunity to share my newly learned skill. So, plates in hand I start passing out my confectionary ambrosia to each of them. They each take a bite and inform me that if they hadn’t already eaten, that they would certainly stay and eat more of my wonderful cake.

Well, it’s been a good day. I saved some money and learned how to make my own cake, which I then shared with my friends. They loved it and they told me so.

In the real world, baking a cake can be a lot like graphic design. In my previous example, I chose a random list of ingredients, mixed them together and then cooked them, which is surprisingly similar to what happens when most people do their own graphic design. You see, graphic design isn’t just about knowing what to put in and why, it’s also about knowing what not to put in and why. It’s a delicate balancing act that takes years to master.

Graphic design, like baking accounting or just about any other skill, is something that you can do yourself, but you’re going to have to take the time to learn the skills necessary to be effective. As in the example above with our retched cake, simply going through the motions is not enough. The proof is in the results. You can show your marketing materials to your friends but most of them are just going to tell you what you want to hear. In business, the only opinion that really matters is that of your clients or customers, and they’ll let you know what they think with their wallets. While it may seem like it’s too expensive to invest in the services of a professional graphic designer, sometimes it can be too expensive not to.