Ten Graphic Design Rules to NEVER Break
2020’s got us all down, so it’s no surprise that you might feel a lack of drive or inspiration in your creativity! And that’s okay, girl! 💁♀️ These ten tips for all things graphic design are the best of the best and guide you in the right direction to get started! 💫
Consistency is Key
Be consistent with the typography you are using. If you can stick to three fonts max, you are doing good! 👏 Even better if you can stick with one font family for the whole graphic! When thinking of the color palette, you want to be sure to stick to about two to three. When you get into more than five colors, it throws the balance off.
Avoid poor legibility
Nobody wants text that is hard to read; try a font like Sans Serif and bolder fonts that are more legible! If you’re looking for a decorative font, try Cooper Black, Juniper STD, and Quiche Sans! If your writing isn’t legible, your message will not get across to the reader! 🤓
Steer Clear of Color Discord
When choosing colors, be sure to think of how they complement each other. When thinking of this, you might want to reference the color wheel and select complementary colors. And stay away from analogous colors which are any three colors next to each other on the color wheel. And also monochrome colors, which are colors that are similar in shade, like red, burgundy, and maroon.
Prevent Non-proportional Graphics and Text
Proportions are everything, be sure to keep all your images to scale when creating your graphic. Be careful not to distort your images too much, or your graphic won’t look professional!
Stay Away From Raster-Based Images
Raster-based images are not your friend!🙅 These images are created with individual pixels that put together an image. To stay away from these, make sure you choose higher resolution images that will be clearer when you resize.
Maintain Alignment
Adjusting your text and graphic elements to align in an organized way is very important. Think of your graphic like a grid; lines are going vertical and horizontal. You want to keep your text and graphics aligned with these lines. Randomly putting text and graphics together can confuse the eye and reflect poorly.
Find a font you like but can’t quite figure out the name to use it for yourself?
If you have an adobe subscription (if not, you can start a free trial), you can find any font you love on the internet and download it. Then upload it to Adobe Creative Cloud reader to find a similar font or the exact font if it’s available!
Initiate a visual hierarchy
Use size and color to show which item or information is most important over another. You want to draw attention to your graphic’s main point, then bring the eye down the graphic based on importance. For example, if your title is small and on the bottom of the page, nobody will know what your graphic is about till they get to the end, which will end up being very confusing for the reader! 🤔
Watch your grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
Having errors can hurt your credibility and professionalism. A great tool to help you check all of your writing is Grammarly. It’s a free online writing assistant that checks all spelling and grammar! Be sure to triple check everything before finalizing your graphic!
Embrace whitespace
Whitespace is your best friend! Whitespace is also known as negative space in whatever you are designing. The more whitespace, the more your graphic can look professional and sophisticated!
Graphic design is important now more than ever before, with the current graphic design market in the US being $15 billion. And logo and branding at $3 billion, it’s safe to say this is the future of design.
Now take these ten great tips and get creative with it! If you’re not taking advantage of these helpful tips, your competition will!
Curious about what’s next in the marketing, public relations, or branding world? Come back next week and check out our blog, The Buzz, for our weekly updates! For more information on how we can help with your graphic design needs, contact us at info@itscreativelabel.com.