While many people think graphic design is just about creating a pretty picture, there’s actually a lot of structure and thought that goes on behind the scenes. Graphic design is everywhere, from the posts we see on social media to the design on your t-shirt. Each and every graphic must be carefully crafted to communicate a message.
As much as we like to think of design as a creative freedom that has “no rules”, there are some unspoken guidelines you should follow to seriously elevate your graphic design skills. This is the key to crafting graphics that are both aesthetically beautiful and deliver on their intent.
Here are six simple rules you can follow to instantly transform your designs to look more appealing and make it as easy as possible for people to understand the message you’re trying to get across.
1. Don’t Neglect Typography
The key difference between design and art is intent. While art is an expression of one’s self and ideas, design always has an underlying message, usually expressed through the help of text. In fact, you’ll very rarely see graphic design without any textual component.
Typography is a complex topic, particularly for beginner designers. Put simply, good typography strikes a balance between personality and readability. Don’t let aesthetics overwhelm your message. Heavily stylised fonts are often difficult to read, taking attention away from the real message at hand. As a general rule of thumb you should use an easy-to-read font for body text. For your header text, you can be lenient towards a novelty typeface.
Still stuck? Here are three tips to help make typography simple:
- Use tried and true font pairings.
- Use one font family and pair different weights together
- Don’t use any more than three fonts - I mean it.
2. Embrace Whitespace
The term whitespace is often referred to as negative space. But really, there’s nothing negative about it at all.
Whitespace is the empty area between design elements. Amateur designers often become easily tempted to cram every pixel with content, making their designs overly busy and confusing to look at. Instead, Professional designers understand the importance of utilising whitespace to allow their designs to breathe.
Simplicity is a beautiful thing. If you’re trying to effectively get your message across, the less is more approach is always a winner. Each element of your design should serve a purpose. To keep your design simple and make the most of whitespace, for each element, ask yourself “Is this necessary, or just distracting?”.
Incorporating whitespace in designs offers a powerful way to frame your focal point, and improve the clarity of your message. Even if you’re not going for the minimal look, it’s always a great idea to give your design room.
3. Establish a Meaningful Hierarchy
Hierarchy describes the arrangement of items on a page to visually communicate the order of importance of each element.
Think about the order you want people to see the elements on your page. The most important element needs to be the first thing they see.
Now think of each element as a visual weight. The more an item stands out in your design, the more weight it has. Manipulating the visual weight of elements through size, contrast, position, framing and so on is a great way to create a hierarchy and draw the eye to the elements you want to emphasize.
For example, you might make an important element bigger and bolder than a less important element which may be smaller and lighter. By establishing hierarchy in your design, you can organise and direct attention to particular elements in order and get what matters across.
4. Maintain Correct Alignment
The ultimate golden rule when it comes to layout design is alignment. In graphic design, alignment is also very important for keeping your design readable and visually appealing. Nobody wants to look at a messy graphic that has elements strewn and scattered across the page with no thought into the way they’re placed.
With correct organisation and order, you can turn your graphic from something people briefly cast their eyes over into something that grabs their attention and serves a purpose. Think of your elements as being in boxes, or within a grid. You want to make sure your elements all line up within the lines of this grid. The rule of thirds and the golden ratio are helpful tools you can use to maintain clear alignment in your graphic design.
5. Use the right Colours
Colour plays a huge role in graphic design. A strategically selected colour palette can make aspects of your design pop, and subconsciously trigger emotions in your customers.
Avoid using colours that fight for the eye’s attention and make your overall design visually jarring. Instead, create a colour palette from colours that compliment one another for a more cohesive design. You may wish to choose a colour palette based on your branding, or the mood you wish to portray in the design. Research color psychology and colour theory to help you craft the perfect colour palette.
You should choose colours that:
- Are tonally similar or
- Are opposites on the colour spectrum
- Provide enough contrast for text to be readable
- Are all either warm or cool toned.
6. Consistency is Key
Last but not least, consistency is key. Consistency between multiple pieces of design helps them to appear more cohesive and unified. The more put together your designs look, the more professional and reliable customers will start to see you as. It can be as easy as keeping the same colour palette, style, and fonts within your design and between multiple designs. After a while, your customers will be able to recognise you from your style alone.
Pick a font, a colour palette and a general style, and stick by it through all your designs. Whether it’s for social media, website, business cards, or even merchandise, it’s important to stay consistent across all forms of graphic design.
Following these basic rules can help you make a killer graphic that is visually appealing to the eye and effectively communicates your message. But these rules are just a guideline, if they don’t fit your brand or the message you’re going for, by all means don’t be afraid to break them.
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