Graphic designers are expensive, and for whatever budgetary reason or entrepreneurial urge, you've decided you're going the DIY design route for all your branded materials. You probably still want those materials to look clean, readable and professional, yes? Yes.That's why we asked a graphic designer to do a little course on graphic design for non-designers. And our contributor, Jenna Soard, delivered with this amazing video. At 19 minutes, it's a time commitment, but it's faster than years of design school and it's packed with great examples and rules of thumb to follow when you're designing branded materials. Learn how to do graphic design for your small business. The video includes the top 10 things you need for great design. Here's a look at that:
Top 10 things for great design
1. Place everything with intention. Nothing should be randomly placed.
2. Use contrast in direction, size, style, and saturation to make things more interesting.
3. Use grids and alignment to ensure all items relate to each other.
4. Repeat certain elements for a cohesive feel.
5. Group similar items together to help the audience scan for information more efficiently.
6. Use consistent typography. Headlines should be the same size, font and color, and H1, H2, and H3 should go from biggest and boldest to the smallest.
7. Margins should be consistent. When text hugs an edge, it looks sloppy.
8. Great design is inspired by other great design and is on trend, so find and get inspired from great design.
9. Great design should represent your brand personality and your industry consistently across style, color, font, and imagery.
10. Great design is attractive to the target market, so test it and get feedback to ensure it's resonating.