Creating effective graphic design can be really tricky. You want your image to be absolutely outstanding and almost perfect. Sometimes thinking about your designs can be brain numbing or even the thought of getting on with it may make you sigh. You have to get past that and dig down to be passionate about your designs and stay positive because the harder you work, the more you will get out of it!
Think about your Subject
Start off just thinking about what your design will represent, advertise and say. Think about the tone of voice you want to give out to the general public. Thinking about these things will really help you in the long run because as a designer you already know about colours, fonts and layouts but its just applying all those things together to make something work. So for example if I was going to create a poster design about bottled water, I would think about the company who makes it and what they represent. I would also think about colours associated with water, a good example would be blue. However I would also think about my personal feeling about the subject in hand because personal touches will almost always create a feel to the image.
Sketch, Doodle & Plan
These are fundamental to your design. Get down as many ideas as you can, it can be on a scrap piece of paper or even a napkin. Just get it down and think about how it can work. Develop your idea, carry on sketching until you feel you have the right template or idea. Only stop when you feel that you can’t add or take away any more. Remember that sometimes less is more, you can have a effective design without all the glossy lighting and chrome text. Sometimes its good to take a five minute break and step back from your design to just clear your head and look at it from afar.
Sometimes ideas just stop as a doodle and you can’t imagine them going any further because something isn’t right but you cant seem to fix it. There are templates out there on the web and one of the ones that I use is called the ‘Golden Section’. This is primarily used for magazine design but the principles of it are apply able to all graphic design.
This template can look complicated but the principles are easy enough. Just remember to section the image and line it up in proportion to the grid and you should be fine. You could almost imagine designing a magazine with ease by using this template!
Setting Up Your Design Document
This is very important becuause you will need to think about what is actually going to happen to your design. If you are making designs for the web then remember that you don’t have to set the dpi any higher than 72 and make sure that your document supports RGB colour. For print remember that your document will have to be at least 300dpi or above! This may strain your computer if it is a bit older. Also remember that you will have to set up your document for CMYK colour as these are the standard colours on a printer (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Key (black)).
Adding Effects
This is the point where you will need to ask yourself wherever you want a really complicated design or a super simple (less is more) design. So long as you have figured out the layout then you should be okay either way but think about what your tone of voice is and then go from there.
You don’t have to go over board on your design, one of the most important things these days in terms of design is quality. High resolution images and fonts will give your final image a high quality feel about it and people will find it attractive.
Using the Correct Font
This is VERY important, this is the part that people will be reading and looking at the most. You will want to find a style that suits the designs needs but also remember to keep it readable. There is no point in having a super fancy font if no one can read it, because at the end of the day if you can’t read a poster then no one will know what you are advertising!
By remembering all these ideas throughout your work will ensure that your image is of a high standard. I have used these principles for years, even though every one is different and work differently its important not to forget the rules of design and to abide by them at times.
Thank you for reading this, please feel free to take a look around my website and let me know what you think.
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