Why Less is More in Design

Posted on 19/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

No matter what you are designing, whether it is a website, a brochure to be sent to the online printers, a business card, a PowerPoint presentation, or the packaging of a product, the best advice that you can heed is that old saying that “less is more.”

What the expression means is that simplicity is often more attractive and more functional than designs which try to stuff everything together and ultimately end up looking cluttered and confusing. The next time you are putting together a document, advertising material, or website, take a hard look at it and instead of asking “what can I add to this?” ask yourself “what can I take away from this?” before you send it off to the online printer.

French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry stated that perfection was found “not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”

Reasons to Keep it Simple

Here are a few reasons why simplicity wins in design:

  • Simple designs are easier to read.

Have you ever tried to decipher a document or website with too much small text, distracting side bars and other visual elements competing for your attention? It is like trying to focus while standing in the middle of a bustling marketplace festival with hundreds of distracting stimuli around you. Often times a customer will give up out of frustration before they completely absorb a cluttered and confusing website or document. If you want your customers to really absorb the information you are giving them, make it easier for them to focus on the important material by presenting it in a simple and easy to read way. For readability, black text on a white background will always be best.

  • Simpler designs highlight important features.

You might have an important message to convey to your customer, but if it is hidden within a sea of other not-so-important visual elements, its power will be lost. However, alone or as one of the very few elements on a page, the important information takes on the weight that it deserves and every reader will notice it.

  • White space is attractive to the eye.

White space, also referred to as negative space, is the areas of the page or screen left unmarked. Good designers know that the space between their graphics, text and images are just as important as the page elements themselves. Creating a balance between positive space and negative space is one of the most important keys to good design. The less white space your design has, the more it looks busy, cluttered and hard to read. However, incorrect use of white space just makes the page look incomplete. The right balance will give a page a classic rich and elegant look.

  • Simple designs are timeless.

Filling your design with fancy bells and whistles will make it look dated and cheesy in the future. If you look at advertising, print media, or packages from the 1950s and 60s, you will notice that the more elements a design has the more “old fashioned” it looks, whereas the designs with very few simple elements still look fresh and could easily have been created today.

So to make your online printed designs easier to read, more effective and attractive, and timeless in their beauty, see how you can take unnecessary elements away to make them as simple as possible.

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The Basic Principles of Design

Posted on 18/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

When it comes to graphic design, there are certain rules that designers should learn and follow that help them to craft visual products that look as appealing as possible.

These basic principles of design are tools that, if used correctly, can enhance the visual impact of a piece. No matter if it is a poster, a brochure, a business card, or something else that you are designing, using the basic principles of design correctly will help you make sure that it looks as good as possible before you send it off to the online printer.

Here are some of the most important basic elements and principles that you need to pay attention to in your design:

  • Space – This refers to the area that a particular visual element takes up, such as text or an image. However, space does not just refer to the area taken up within a component of the piece, but also to the distances around the element as well. This is known as positive and negative space, with positive space being the space taken up by the subject matter and negative space describing all of the space around it. It is important to include a good balance of positive and negative space in a design, so that the work does not feel cluttered and looks balanced.
  • Scale – This element describes the overall size of the work. Using a creative scale can really make your design projects stand out. For example, a business card that is bigger or smaller than the standard size will be noticed for its unusual scale and catch the customer’s attention.
  • Line – One of the most basic elements, the definition of line is a continuous movement of a point across a surface, such as a pencil or brush across paper. When lines form an enclosed space, this becomes a shape. Lines are the basic building block of a design, and they can vary in thickness, length, and direction. The types of lines that you use in your design will affect the mood of the finished product, such as soft and smooth flowing lines or harsh and bold jagged lines.
  • Proportion – Proportion refers to the relative size of objects within a design. Manipulating the proportions within your design can draw attention to different elements, as the human brain usually assumes the largest object is the most important.
  • Repetition – This is a technique that you can use in your design to strengthen the visual impact by tying all individual elements together. Even if you have a wide range of products being produced by an online printer, such as business cards, brochures and posters, if they all have a common element that is repeated they will look consistent together. You can repeat elements throughout your multi-page documents and websites, and the element that you repeat can be a colour, a shape, a certain typeface, or even a texture.
  • Colour – One of the most important elements of design, colour can add a lot of visual impact and meaning to a piece. Many people associate emotions and feelings with colours, so do your research and choose which one will put forth the right image for your company.

If you are sending your materials off to the online printer, first look at them with the basic principles of design in mind to see if there is any way you can use these principles to improve them.

 

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Great Websites for Graphic Designers

Posted on 17/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

These days, the internet is a graphic designer’s best friend! It is a fantastic network where designers can learn, get inspired, and meet other designers from all over the world.

The advent of online printing has changed the printing world, and the way that graphic designers work is changing as a result of the internet. There are many beautiful websites online that offer help, information, ideas, and inspiration for graphic designers.

Here is a list of some cool websites that graphic designers, or just fans of beautiful design, will love:

The Behance Network is a great website for freelance graphic designers to showcase their work and get hired. The website is designed for creative professionals in photography, illustration, and fashion as well, and it allows you to create a portfolio and instantly broadcast your work over multiple social networks such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The site is used by companies and publications to recruit talent.

The site also lets you set up an ecommerce shop in minutes to sell your work online. Membership is free.

This is a blog that showcases the best in package design, such as packaging, labels and other printed products. You are able to vote on your favourite designs and share your opinions. It is a great place to get inspiration for package design.

A handy blog for freelance graphic designers, Outlaw offers free resources such as vector files, wallpapers, fonts, icons and even Photoshop tutorials.

Smashing Magazine is one of the essential favourite magazines of the graphic designer. The website includes all things web design and graphic design related from all over the web. No matter what your graphic design niche, you will probably find a relevant topic on this website.

This is a website jam-packed with free tutorials for Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. They are all created by design professionals and are easy to follow to learn some great effects.

Another fantastic resource for graphic designers, Go Media Blog has a great deal of helpful info for all kinds of graphic designers from comic book designers to website creators to t-shirt designers. There are plenty of reference articles, guides and tutorials on the website featuring beginner and advanced techniques that will help you improve your skills and make your design work look even more awesome then before.

This website includes many great posts about relevant graphic design topics, and also features interviews with top designers and shows examples of designs to aspire to.

One of the most long standing and well recognized design resource sites. Here you can find free tutorials on a huge range of topics such as logo design, typography, using clip art, finding the right online printer, using grids, and much more.

With everything from free tutorials, design blogs, portfolio networks, and online printers out there, the web is a great place for graphic designers to find help and inspiration.

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Avoiding the Clash: How to Use Colour Schemes

Posted on 16/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

Everyone loves a splash of colour, and your website and print materials that you have printed online will look so much more exciting, dynamic, and eye-catching if you can use vibrant colours to highlight them.

However, colour can be a tricky thing to use in your design because every colour does not necessarily look good with another. If you simply choose colours at random you could end up with something that looks like a rainbow painfully crash-landed in pieces all over your document, and this is not a professional image to convey.

So how can you make sure that your colours work will together before you send off the designs to the online printer?

There is a set of rules that pertain to the use of colour, known as Colour Theory, and within this theory there is the concept of colour schemes. Basically, if the colours that you choose fit into one of these colour schemes there is a good chance that they will work well together and you will avoid horribly clashing documents.

Here are a few of the more common colour schemes. (To understand this better, search for a picture of a basic “colour wheel” before you read this to use as a reference):

  • Complementary Colour Schemes

Choose a colour on the colour wheel, such as blue for example. Now, trace a straight line across the wheel to the colour on the opposite side of it, which will be orange. This means that these two colours are a “complementary” pair. They represent a high contrast between each other because they are opposites. Just as putting your tallest friend next to your shortest friend, the juxtaposition of the two opposites makes them seem even more extreme, and putting blue against its opposite orange will make the blue seem bluer and vice versa.

Complementary colour schemes should not be used in large doses, as the opposite colours will look too vibrant in large amounts and can appear jarring. It should also not be used for large amounts of text, as it makes it hard to read. This technique should be used in small amounts for when you want to make something stand out.

  • Analogous Colour Schemes

Now, this time, look at the colours on either side of blue. It should be a purplish indigo colour in one direction and a greenish blue in the other direction. Using colours together that are next to each other on the colour wheel is called an Analogous Colour Scheme.

Analogous colours always match well with each other because they are so similar, and they create a very serene and calm effect. Using only analogous colours in your design will make it look unified and pleasing to the eye. Choose a main colour for the majority of the document, and use the other two for secondary elements and accents.

  • Triadic Colour Scheme

Rather than drawing straight lines across from your chosen colour to find it’s complementary, this time draw a triangle between three equally spaced colours on your wheel. This is a triadic colour scheme, such as orange, purple and green. This is a very vibrant and eye catching colour scheme, so the colours should be balanced and one should dominate while the other two serve as accents.

There are many other more complicated colour schemes that you can research if you are feeling adventurous, but these three are the most basic and easy to use.

Using colour schemes correctly will make every document you send to the online printer look fantastic!

 

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The Importance of Choosing the Right Font

Posted on 12/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

When you are designing your print materials to be sent to the online printer, choosing the right font is very important to the look of your project. The right font can take a design from average to amazing, and the wrong font can make it look very unprofessional. Font or typeface has just as much impact on the look of a design as colour or spacing, so it deserves your careful consideration.

With hundreds of typefaces available, it can be overwhelming to choose a font for your online printing project. Many people either make the mistake of choosing a simple, reliable but boring font because it is the only one they are familiar with, or choosing a ridiculously decorative font which is unique but makes the text too hard to read. The answer is somewhere in the middle, with a font that offers an attractive look but is easy to understand.

What should you consider when choosing a font?

  • Readability.

It doesn’t matter how fancy your design looks, if your readers are not able to decipher what the text says! Above all, a font must be readable. Check that your font is readable by asking the opinion of others who do not know what the text actually says, and if they have any trouble at all interpreting it, choose another font.

  • Simplicity

Another mistake is to choose ten different types of fonts all together on one page. This simply looks messy and unprofessional, and will be a big headache for your customers to read. Not to mention the fact that it will be a huge pain for the online printer to upload all of those fonts and print them. A good rule of thumb is to stick with no more than three typefaces per piece. You should choose one for the heading, one for the body text, and a third font for any accents or design elements if needed. Any more than this will look cluttered and chaotic.

  • Use script carefully.

Many people are drawn to script typefaces because they think that they add elegance and sophistication to a piece. However, they can be very difficult to read and can look really silly when used with all caps. Also, never use script for lengthy copy, or your readers will just give up on reading the content of your printed material because it is just too difficult. You want your copy to be as clear and easy to read as possible.

  • Pay Attention to the Personality of a Font.

Every typeface ever designed has a personality to it, and a certain feeling or image that it evokes. An old fashioned, classic serif font will give a sense of dependability, and a more modern looking document might use a sans serif font. Think carefully about what image your company is trying to convey, and choose a font which reflects these ideals.

Sifting through all of the hundreds of available fonts before you send your design to the online printer might take a while, but when you find the perfect one, your document will look amazing!

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Good vs Bad Poster Design

Posted on 11/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

Are you designing a poster to promote your products or services? Many online printers produce posters at great rates, and they are very effective ways to market your business. However, a poster can be a challenging thing to design, as it is very different than other print media such as a business card or a brochure.

These other online printed materials are small objects, that your customers will likely hold in their hands and spend time reading. They can hold more information and can rely more on text to convey their meaning. However, this is not the case with a poster. Posters are designed to be as simple as possible in order to catch the customer’s attention. They are not something that your customers will hold up close in their hand, but something that will catch their eye as they are walking past.

Many people won’t look at your poster for more than a few seconds, so it needs to grab their attention and present just enough information for them to understand in that short time. There is no room for detail in a poster, just enough basic information to get people intrigued.

So what is the difference between good and bad poster design?

  • Good poster design will use a large, captivating image that takes up most of the poster and can be seen and understood from quite a distance away. It must be something eye catching, whether that is in a beautiful way or a shocking way.
  • Bad poster design will clutter up the space with many small images, which are hard to decipher from a distance. Also, bad poster design uses low quality images that don’t have a strong impact when blown-up to a large size.
  • Good posters use typography and white space to pose an interesting question that makes the passer-by stop and think. They use unusual and unique fonts in a fun and playful way, and even use text to create artwork or an attractive design, so that the words themselves become part of the image.
  • Bad posters have too much text, presented in a poorly-chosen font which is hard to read and most people simply walk past and ignore it. They also use too many fonts at once, which look cluttered and are hard on the eyes.
  • Good posters only include the essential information, and a link to a website where people can go for further details.
  • Bad posters try to cram in as much information as they can, confusing people and ruining the design.
  • Good posters present the most important information in the largest font, and work their way down using smaller fonts for all less important words. This helps direct the eye down the page and conveys which information is most crucial.
  • Bad posters use the same size font for all information, so that important pieces do not stand out.
  • Good poster design uses colour theory to create attractive colour combinations which flatter each other.
  • Bad poster design uses too many colours together, which clash, or no colour at all, which is boring.

Before you send your poster off to the online printer, does it fit the bill for good or bad design?

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Using Images? Avoiding Copyright Issues

Posted on 10/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

You are a new small business working on your website, business card, brochure, or other marketing material to send to the online printers, and you come to the point when you need an image. What do you do?

Many people would just follow their instincts onto a Google Image search, find the picture that they want, download it and place it on their website or brochure. There is nothing wrong with that, right?

Wrong. This is a common misconception, but all images on the internet are not up for grabs. Using a random image from a Google search can actually get your business in a lot of trouble.

There have been horror stories of companies and independent bloggers who have borrowed images from a random source on the web, only to receive an invoice from the copyright holder of that image for thousands of pounds. If they had been a bit more careful in the first place, they wouldn’t have chosen a copyrighted image to include in their design.

So what if you want an image to put on your business card or poster that you are sending to the online printer, but you don’t want the headache of copyright issues? Here are a few things you can do:

This is a very handy collection of over 10 million media files that anyone can download and use for free. The database is easily searchable, and you will likely find an image to illustrate whatever your topic is. Almost all of these images can be used on your own website, in print, or otherwise. Some might require the original creator be attributed, but many don’t.

The photography community website Flickr has a category for the images that Flickr users have decided to offer under a Creative Commons license. This means that they are free to be copied and used. Pay attention to the different terms of usage that go along with the photos, as some require you to give them credit, some are only allowed for non-commercial purposes, and some forbid you from altering the photos in any way. The different licenses are marked with handy little icons beside the photo galleries.

  • Take Your Own Photos

If you want to be absolutely sure that you are free of any copyright hassle, why not take the photos that you need yourself? All you need is a decent quality camera and some time to fit the right subject. If you don’t fancy yourself a shutterbug, there is likely someone in the company with an artistic eye who can take the pictures and edit them on Photoshop. Another advantage of using your own images is that you have total control, and you can create exactly the image that you want.

Finding images for your online printed materials can be difficult, but with millions of freely useable images online you have plenty to choose from, and if you can’t find the right one you can always take your own.

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Biggest Design Mistakes

Posted on 09/05/2011 by Scott Dylan

Designing your own brochures, newsletters, logos, business cards, or other printed materials for online printing?

In some situations, this can be a great move because it allows you to have total control over the look and feel of your company’s printed materials, and will save you money because you won’t have to hire a graphic designer. However, if you are attempting to put together some printed materials to send to an online printer without experience in design, you might end up making one of these beginner mistakes that will make your company look unprofessional.

Here are some of the biggest design mistakes that amateur designers make, and how to avoid them.

  • Go easy on the crazy fonts. Sure, they might all look very cool, but using ten different stylized fonts on one page is not only a nightmare for the online printer but also makes the text virtually unreadable for your customer. Stick with a simple and easy to read font for the majority of your documents, and only use decorative fonts for small sections of text.
  • Less is more. This old saying is particularly true when it comes to design. A brochure with text crammed into every single corner and images overlapping each other will not be as effective as a simple, sleek looking brochure which says everything it needs to and not a word more. Leaving somewhere for the viewer’s eye to rest is important in an effective design. When working on a design, see how much you can take away rather than how much you can add, and remember that blank space is your friend.
  • Suit the tone of your design for your product. If you are designing a publication for a serious product, don’t use playful fonts or images or your customers will not take you seriously. However, if your company wants to market itself as young and quirky, those same fonts and images might be appropriate.
  • Take your own personal preference out of the equation. Many first time designers end up creating something that they like, but is not really relevant to the needs of the company. Whether or not the design suits your company image is more important than whether or not you just love that shade of purple. Of course, your personal preferences will affect the design a bit, but don’t let them take over completely.
  • Use high quality images. You must make sure that the images you are using are of the highest resolution possible. If you are not sure, ask your online printer to let you know which resolution they require. If you use images that are too small in your design, they will look grainy and pixelated when they go to print.

With a bit of patience, an eye for detail, and a bit of knowledge, you can produce your own designs for your company’s printed material. Once you have completed your design, upload it to your online printer, and let them do the rest!

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