Graphics

TopTenTips for Graphic Design

Over the years, I’ve created a set of guidelines that I read anytime I work on a new design project. These rules have helped me expand my approach and focus my ideas. They also remind me of those obvious things are too easy to overlook or gloss over. Hopefully you’ll find them helpful.

1. Avoid the Boring – The cardinal rule. Don’t forget it.
2. Design is a process, not an endpoint – When you think you have something satisfactory, give it a twist and look at it again. You’ll often find something better in a change of color or layout.
   
3. Are you repeating a past design? – If that past design worked -- then great! If not or (more likely) if it’s become dated, scrap the design and begin again.
   
4. Don’t forget you can distort images AND text – With the rainbow of options available, you can distort almost anything for hyperbole.
   
5. Start from the media – If you’re doing a black and white postcard, it’s frustrating to look at full color media for ideas -- so don’t. Look at similar media (for B&W, try newspapers – the Wall Street Journal has some particularly good B&W design).
   
6. Look for spatial relationships in nature – Besides the Golden Mean, there are many natural spatial organizations that can be used beautifully in design. In other words, things don’t need to be on a grid to be orderly.
   
7. Avoid redundancy – Does the image say the same thing as the text? It shouldn’t.
   
8. DBWA (Design by Walking Around) – Don’t get seduced by looking at existing designs for your ideas. Go into the field with a sketchpad. A kernel for the best ideas is almost always found in the subject field (e.g. visit an ice cream shop when designing an ice cream logo).
   
9. How is white space/negative space used in the design? – White space is more than just background; white space is a vital element of design. How is it being used?
   
10. Read text backwards for proofreading – Typos are expensive to correct, yet you’ve probably read the copy so many times that you can miss obvious mistakes. Start at the last word and read backwards until you reach the first word. You’ll be astounded how many errors you catch. Likewise, temporarily change the font. It will break up the justification you’ve seen a thousand times and you might catch something you missed.