Have you ever designed something which seemed fine, then later looked at it and felt it was somehow wrong? It wasn’t anything glaringly obviously wrong but still didn’t seem like a professional-looking design.
One of the problems most of us run into when we are first starting off with design is:
- It has no visual hierarchy
When we want to draw focus to a particular element, like our headline or call-to-action, we need to ensure that this is the most dominant thing in the layout. This can be done by changing the size, weight, colour, etc. of that element. - It doesn’t have enough or has too much spacing
Too many times we have had elements too close together or too far apart, which gives our design a lack of cohesion. We need to ensure that we are consistent with margins and gaps throughout our layout, so that everything looks organised. - It has the wrong colours or too many colours
Choosing colours can be the most daunting part of the design process. But in general, it is good to use one main colour, and one or two secondary ones. It’s also good to have neutral space. The more simple and clean your colour palette is the easier it will be to understand your visual message. - Too many fonts
The same concept goes here. Too many different fonts and size variations will create a disorganised design. Keep it as simple as possible and ensure there is a hierarchy, and that one font size doesn’t overpower the other. - It’s adding too much instead of removing what’s not necessary
We often think that more things is better, however in the best designs, the elements that aren’t needed are removed. Empty space allows the most important elements to be more noticeable, and makes the design easier to scan. - Elements aren’t aligned
Often we can see something looks slightly off but don’t know what it is we are looking at. However, if we look closely, it’s usually something that isn’t aligned or is off-centre from what it should be. We need to remember to align all of our elements to a grid and ensure that everything looks balanced.
The best part? All of these things are not about artistic ability, but about knowing the rules. You just need to learn them all and once you start using them all together, you’ll see your designs improve rapidly!
We teach these at VisualStylePro in easy to follow lessons which will take your designs from “this feels wrong” to “this works”!
Because it’s not about guessing, it’s about making conscious decisions!