Getting your graphic design projects right is no easy feat. There are so many elements and aspects to consider per project that not only can it be hard to know where to begin, but also to make sure everything is covered and prepared for. However, the actual process isn’t even the most challenging bit; getting the ideas in the first place is.
Sourcing ideas on how to implement, plan and execute your graphic design ideas are no easy feat, especially when it’s something you try and do all day every day. With graphic design trends changing every year, and an increasing importance on the quality, style, and visual elements to stand out from the crowd of businesses out there, it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling overwhelmed.
Fortunately, if you’re looking for graphic design ideas and tips to help you optimize your processes to create and deliver the best results, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we’re going to explore ten of the best top tips you need to know to help you create graphic designs that get results.
Table of Contents
1 – Texture in Print
Firstly, I want to make one thing very clear that it seems a lot of graphic designers are ignoring, and that is that print is still very much alive and still very much relevant. Over the last few years, of course, there’s no denying digital media has taken the limelight and is something you should be focusing much of your attention on, but there’s still room for print media to get results.
In fact, in some instances, it may even be more beneficial for your business to use print media because people love to be able to hold and interact with something in the real world, especially when so much of what we do is digital.
However, instead of just printing onto a flat piece of card or surface, it’s vital you consider adding textures. There are now more ways to do this than ever before, but if you’re looking to give your customers an enhanced experience with print media, textures are definitely the way forward.
2 – Implement Powerful Text
By ‘powerful text,’ I’m talking about the actual copy of the content (we’re going to speak about fonts and typography more below). Of course, as a graphic designer, writing the copy might not be your job, but incorporating it into your designs is, so it’s important you work with it.
For example, if you’re using a word like ‘heat,’ you automatically think of yellows, reds, and oranges in terms of color. When implemented with the content in the right way, this can make the word hold a lot more impact and becomes a lot more powerful to the reader, both in terms of grabbing attention and sending the message effectively.
3 – Effective Contrast is Essential
While there’s a lot that can be said about the effectiveness of contrast in the world of graphic design, in this section, I want to draw your attention to one of the latest and most innovative forms of contrast which is color schemes.
More obviously, we’re talking about unconventional color schemes that more and more businesses and graphic designers are using to help their products and organizations stand out from the crowd.
Using a contrasting but unique color palette in a tasteful way can help draw a massive amount of attention to your designs, all while sending a message when combined with the other points on this list.
4 – Use Responsive Logos
Every graphic designer should already understand the importance that a logo has but having a one size fits all logo is now a thing of the past, and 2019 now brings what is known as a ‘responsive logo.’ These are scalable logos that are adaptions of each other to be used in certain situations and mediums.
For example, the Coca Cola have four different types of logo, ranging from one which is big and hold flows, graphics, and text content, all the way down to just the lettering and words that would be used on smaller designs.
Using a scalable logo is a great way to keep your designs and media content clean and professional while maintaining the focus on your business’s branding.
5 – Colour Transitions
Also known as gradients, ‘ color transitions’ is the term we’re using in 2019 to describe changing of color across a design. For example, on one side you may have a bright blue or pink, and then on the other a white; but the colors fade into one another perfectly.
This is known as a transition, and have been popular for years, but are currently making a bit of a comeback and becoming increasingly popular thanks to their smooth aesthetic that makes it easy to implement other forms of media, such as text content, into your visual designs.
These gradients are typically seen in flatter designs that don’t originally seem to have a lot of depth because it brings them out and gives them a much fuller feel. With that in mind, using them on designs that already have depth or a lot going on can make it feel like too much is happening, and it can feel overwhelming. It’s also a good idea to learn How to Create the Perfect Colour Palette for Your Brand.
6 – Minimalistic Design
There’s no denying that, these days, less is considered more when it comes to graphic design, and while brutalism designs are still just as popular and as effective in the marketing and branding world, there’s a lot of room for minimalist design.
Many people like clean and clear designs that are both professional and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Too much happening on the screen can be overwhelming, and people can get distracted quickly. Instead, optimize your white space.
7 – Original Visuals
We live in a world where there are more stock photography and videography than ever before and granted, some of it is of a much higher quality than we’ll ever be able to produce on our own. With many affordable price tags, this all comes together to make it easy for graphic designers to opt for stock visuals.
The only problem with this is the fact that stock photography is still widely used in the business world, but people have cottoned on to what is original and what isn’t. It’s easy to figure this out and using stock photography creates an impression for your customers on what you’re like.
If you want to create the best impression and send your point across in the most effective way, it’s important to make sure you’re creating original visuals to use in your media, helping you to stand out from the crowd and create the exact content you want to create.
Creating your own content and visuals will speak volumes about your brand and business and will create the exact image you want to create in a far more detailed way than a stock photo or video ever could.
8 – Customised, Styled Typography
Typography is so important when it comes to graphic design because how you present your copy is just as important and as impactful as the actual content of the copy itself. Although there are plenty of ways you can approach this, and many different trends every year, there’s some that just continue to relentless perform.
Most notably of these are handwritten-styled fonts that are bold and stand out from the crowd. In short, you want to choose a big, bold font that instantly grabs your reader’s attention in a fearless yet clear and understanding way. In 2019, it’s all about being as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
People also respond well to handwritten fonts because it adds a human touch to the content which resonates with people far more and deeper than your typical corporate text that only helps to remind the readers that they’re talking and interacting with a business.
9 – Using Animated Visuals
Hand in hand with the visuals point above, it’s important to make sure you’re using animated visual content to help grab your customer’s or lead’s attention, and then drawing them in a while sending a simple yet concise message or atmosphere that they resonate with.
The best way for a graphic designer to do this is to simply implement or animate a GIF image, or an animated video (if the budget allows). Easily one of the most effective ways to do this is using a looped GIF image which constantly replays itself but remains smooth because there’s no visual end or beginning, just an endless loop.
What people love about these simple graphics is the fact that the images will remain mostly still apart from a slight movement. This again creates impact and subtly adds contrast to a digital page that’s hard to ignore.
10 – Maintain Consistency!
The final point I want to talk about today is making sure that everything you do in terms of graphic design for your own business or a project you’re working on remains consistent within itself. Whether it’s the fonts, the color palette, the style, the aesthetic, or even the type of content you’re producing, you need to make sure you’re consistent across the board.
This is so important because when people look at your content, they need to know that they’re dealing with you and who you are. If your website says one thing and your social media pages say another, people are going to get very confused very quickly.
Author Bio
Stanley M Goodman is an experienced entrepreneur who writes for Gum Essays. He is an expert in elearning and helps clients to develop key messages and strategies around their brands.