As an entrepreneur, you wear many hats. You’re the visionary, financial analyst, marketer, graphic designer, customer service rep, and more. And if you’re lucky, you might have the funds to hire a bookkeeper, marketer, or graphic designer. But if you’re doing the best you can on a shoestring budget, we’re sharing 5 basic principles of graphic design to help you take your collateral to the next level.
1. Contrast
You wouldn’t put white text on a white background, and we hope you would never put yellow text on a white background either. Using contrasting colors is the most basic, fundamental principle of design. Consider those who may be vision-impaired - be sure to use contrasting colors at all times so your content is easy to see!
2. Balance
Consider your overall “workspace.” Are you designing a social media post, a business card, or a flyer? Each of these items demands an entirely different workspace size. If you align everything to the top, what’s the use of the bottom? You want to be sure to fill the space accordingly while still fearlessly leaving room for “white space” (more on that later).
3. Hierarchy
Think about how a person navigates a book; they search by chapter and page number. The same concept applies to graphic design. Be sure to use different sizes to differentiate between titles, headings, and body copy.
4. Emphasis
You will always have a message to convey, sometimes even a few. Make sure your main point(s) don’t get “lost in the sauce.” Use different fonts to separate your content. Fonts should be contrasting, but complementary, and you should use no more than three typefaces. Use different sizes, different weights, and different colors. If you’re designing a social post, Millennial Marketing will be the first to tell you that text-heavy posts don’t perform well due to the algorithms. So break it up! Use multiple posts, or a carousel design to help get your information out there. Wondering what Canva fonts pair well together? We’ve got that too.
5. White Space
White space refers to the area between the elements of design. White space is not necessarily always white, rather, it can be any color, texture, or pattern. Boiled down to its simplest form, white space can be considered “breathing room” for the content. A lot of beginner designers naturally want to fill every bit of their canvas. Don't be afraid of white space! As previously shared, you don’t want your content to get “lost in the sauce.” The easiest way to show this is this example is in this blog. Note the extra line break given between the principles. Give your content room to breathe, otherwise, it may look so overwhelming that everyone skips over it altogether!
Graphic design is less about the creativity aspect, and more about solving a problem through visual communication. While there are many, many more, these are just 5 basic principles of graphic design. Using these design principles can help take your content to the next level and get your point across in a more efficient manner. If you’re looking for something expertly designed, Duke Design Company can help!
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