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If you’re doing your own graphic designing for your small business, whether it’s designing your business logo or promotional graphics, then it can be hard for the small business owner to avoid common graphic design mistakes. This list of mistakes are aimed to help the small business owner pick up tips and to understand the very basics of good graphic design.
Your small business’ graphics are important because they’re essentially the face of your business and of your marketing campaigns whether it’s a flyer, your business card, or your facebook page. Keep reading for some of the most common graphic design mistakes you should avoid.
1.) You have an outdated logo or your logo is poorly designed.
Your logo is the face of your brand. It’s the representation of your brand’s image, and it’s used to establish loyalty. To put it frankly, visual expression is very important to consumers and your logo is your biggest tool. If your logo is blurry, it isn’t modern, or if it doesn’t connect to what you sell, then you’ll have a much harder time getting customers to connect with your brand.
2.) There isn’t a clear solidarity among all your designs.
All of your graphics should have a solidarity among them. They should share a common theme and color palette. When your designs share a uniform style, then your brand’s appearance, in turn, looks uniform. A uniform design will carry a stronger and more clear message than a brand that has a jumbled and random assortment of graphics with no direction.
3.) You underestimate the importance of space.
Space in your graphics is extremely important. Whether it’s positive or negative space, if you have too much or too little space in the wrong place, then your design could look either cluttered or just poorly designed. Sometimes, if you allow for more space, your design can be easier to read and can attract more attention than a more cluttered, smaller design. If you have no space, then a design can definitely look claustrophobic and be difficult for a customer to scan or read. Spacing between lines and letters is important as well! This can also have an effect on a design’s clarity.
4.) The fonts are all wrong.
One common mistake with graphic design is an overabundance of font styles and font sizes. If you have too many fonts or hard-to-read fonts, then your overall design can look cluttered. When you have too many miss-matched fonts or fonts that aren’t complimentary to each other, your design’s message can be hard to decipher. If you don’t pay attention to the use of fonts, then the message you want relayed through your design can get lost. Also, consider the size of your fonts. If your font is too little or too large, then it can upset the overall design as well.
5.) You don’t have inspiration.
One of the best things you can do before designing your graphics is to have a set inspiration. Whether you’re gathering your inspiration on a bulletin board, a Pinterest board, or even written out in a notebook, you’ll have a set purpose to your design. Have you decided on the specific message your design will carry? Have you determined a specific palette or theme? Having the inspiration will help ensure your designs are uniform, help you avoid trends, create a unique design, and represent you or your company’s preferences. Not having a plan or inspiration for your design is a common mistake.
Comment below and let us know, what are your graphic design tips and advice?
CreativeIncome
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I enjoyed your column about design does and don’t for logos but would have enjoyed it more with graphic examples for each problem. Maybe you could add good and bad design for them. Thanks from a “visual” learner.
Thanks for your feedback Moureen!
One great way to determine if your graphics are getting noticed, is to turn a copy into black and white. If you don’t have strong contrasts and design flow, it will looked washed out in black and white. If it’s washed out there, then your colors will be bad too. Also keep in mind your target audience and age demographics. The comment about restricting your fonts is extremely important. Decorative fonts may look great to you – but are they too swirly for someone with bad eyesight and hard to read? Sometimes, a decorative first letter will be the attention-grabber you need.