Queen Bee Marketing’s Blog About Marketing, SEO, and Design.

What makes a decent design great? There isn’t secret design magic out there that designers sprinkle on their layouts to make them look great, it’s the designer’s attention to detail that takes a design to a new level. Everything needs to work together within the design to make it work. The following are a few areas to be aware of while you’re designing. These items mostly apply to businesses and not personal or fine art.

1. Grid - Grids keep everything aligned and in order. The viewer may never notice the grid, but they will feel comforted by the sense of organization. Create a grid and stick to it unless it makes sense conceptually to purposefully break the grid. Grids help you to design more efficiently, too. Knowing exactly how wide your text box or image should be reduces your need to guess and creates structure.

2. Color - Colors need to be chosen for a reason. Maybe they are the company’s corporate colors. If so, make sure to match them perfectly. Branding depends on consistency, and choosing colors that are similar but not quite exact could confuse viewers and weaken brand strength. If you are not using corporate colors, then colors should be consistent with the concept you’re conveying. Keep in mind that colors have different meanings between cultures. Try to avoid choosing colors (or letting your clients choose colors) on the basis of personal preference.

3. Typography - Spend some time choosing 1-2 fonts that fit with your concept. Your “go-to” font may not be the best choice. Try to steer clients away from Comic Sans and other random fonts unless it does happen to go with your concept. More than 2 (maybe 3) fonts will become confusing to the viewer. Use different weights/variations of the same font instead of choosing a different one. Using your type to create a hierarchy will also guide readers through your document. Pick one style for headings, another for sub-headings, another for body copy, etc.

The best way to make sure you’re on track with your design is to constantly ask yourself “Why?” Why did you choose this font over that one? Why did you place the logo where you did? Why did you use 2 columns of text instead of one? If you can’t answer why you did something, maybe you should rethink that element. Thinking about why you did what you did will force you to think about the details of the design.