Articles
The Ultimate Graphic Designer’s Guide: Do’s and Dont’s
Posted on August 5, 2014
Given the increasing demand of quality designs nowadays, being a graphic designer becomes more challenging. Some of your designs may stand out among the rest, while others may fail.
Perhaps,you can consider listing down your strengths and weaknesses for the next design process.
But in case you need an easy guide in achieving your desired result, you may consider the following do’s and dont’s:
Be trendy and original
- DO look around for trending graphic designs. Checking these helps you come up with fresh ideas. For example, popular infographics from social media websites are very helpful in producing engaging and trendy output.
- DON’T copy designs from others. Your fellow artists also worked hard to come up with a quality product. There’s nothing more rewarding than creating your original masterpiece.
Involve other people
- DO consult with your client about your plans. It’s also the client’s name at stake if the whole project fails. Ignoring their suggestions may ruin your business relationship with them.
- DON’T take criticisms from your colleagues in your graphic design company personally. Their input can be a big help to your design.
In terms of the design process:
- Do take time in choosing the color scheme. If you’re not sure of your client’s preferred colors, never hesitate to check Google. You can even flip through promotional materials and use those as references for color combinations. Always remember, one factor that attract people’s attention is colors.
- DON’T combine colors that don’t suit the design and the message you want to convey.
Colors, especially when merged, invoke different emotions to viewers. Let’s say you are creating an advertisement for summer apparels. You must use bright colors, instead of gloomy ones. Hues of gray and blue for example, signal a depressing mood.
- DO incorporate images into your design. Texts without images don’t work at all. But adding photos into your design makes it more eye-catching.
As they say, a picture paints a thousand words. So, never take pictures for granted.
- DON’T overwhelm your design with too many images. Take note that cluttering your design with too many images will dilute the message.
- DO use modern and clear fonts so your message is noticeable and readable, at the same time.
- DON’T use multiple fonts in a single design. This results to viewers’ loss of interest, making it hard for the design’s message to come across.
Take note, first impression lasts.
Improving your designs may be difficult or easy. But, you can always stick to these helpful principles. Whether you consider this or not, always remember that an effective graphic designer learns from mistakes and never stops trying to succeed.