Colour Modes

The offset lithography process utilizes four basic colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and black. This system is typically referred to as CMYK. In order to make this system work properly, the designer must ensure that every single design element is in CMYK format (not RGB). RGB is another type of colour system that provides a greater array of hues for online projects. If any of the elements in a design are left in RGB format when sent to print, the colours will be converted to CMYK and will not be the same as in the original design.

Different Types of Black

If you asked the average consumer, most would think that the colour black is simply the colour black. However, in the world of print design, there are actually a few different types of black. The two most common types are “plain black” and “rich black.”

It is important to remember that “rich black” varies depending on printer preference. If a design element with any black colouration is created outside of Photoshop (plain black) and then placed next to another black element created in Photoshop (rich black), the difference is quite obvious.

The CMYK breakdown of plain black is typically 0-0-0-100. With this breakdown, you can see that the black ink is completely saturated while the other colours are not used at all. Rich black represents some variation of colours that look black. In Photoshop, the default CMYK breakdown for black is 75-68-67-90.

If the designer is intentionally trying to make an element darker and richer in print, he or she should find out which variation of rich black the intended printer likes to use. Terms such as “warm” or “cool black” are some of the most common in this situation. “Warm black” contains higher magenta (M) levels, while “cool black” includes higher cyan (C) levels. The designer should never use a total saturation level for all colours (100-100-100-100) since this will make printing very difficult and risks over-saturation on the final print copy.

The Importance of Getting Your Black Right

Although paper over-saturation and print designs with conflicting black tones are big problems by themselves, the most damaging problem that arises from getting the black colouration wrong revolves around setting types or text. In print designs, using any variation of “rich black” colouration for the typeface can cause major problems with the final copy. It is extremely difficult for the printer to match up each CMYK separation perfectly, so it is very likely that some of the cyan, magenta or yellow colours will fall outside the font characters. This problem will make the text in the design look blurry and simply unprofessional.

Colour modes and the different types of black represent just a small portion of the many issues involved with getting the colour right in print design. A professional designer with experience in print design can help you avoid the pitfalls and complete a beautiful design.

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Creating a highly-effective business card design is much harder than you may think. Professional designers leverage their experience and knowledge of design principles to develop great business card designs. Many also follow these “rules” throughout the design process.

K-I-S-S

While the phrase “keep it simple stupid” might be overused, it definitely applies to the process of business card design. Historically, businessmen would invest a lot of effort into getting as much information as they could onto their business cards. They would fill every square centimetre with colours, logos and text. However, the most successful business cards of today are typically open and clean with just enough information to relay the intended message.

When it comes to modern business cards, clutter is distracting, old-fashioned and even unprofessional. Visually-sophisticated, clean designs create a much larger impact and help your prospects remember you. Focus on putting only the most important information on your business cards, and don’t be afraid to use both sides if necessary!

Remember Me!

If you can find the budget for it, paying a little more for a card design that your prospects and clients won’t forget is well worth it. Whether you use an unorthodox material, a unique texture, an odd shape or letterpress text, presenting a business card that stands out can spark conversations and result in amazing opportunities.

It’s All About the Brand

You could create the most unusual and memorable business card ever designed, but if the card doesn’t match your brand, it may actually cause more negative effects than positive. The design elements used on your business card design should complement the ideas and images you want your company to represent. Choosing random colours or materials is the wrong way to develop a great design. Make sure your company’s brand image is at the centre of the design process and remember, as with many other branding techniques, consistency is key!

Know Your Limits

The worst thing you can do for your business cards is to try to implement some crazy idea that you have no idea how to portray. People can tell when someone has been “trying too hard” on a business card design that just turns out to look unprofessional. If you are hiring a professional designer, know your budget going in and work with the designer to get the most for your money.

If you do decide to take the DIY path, don’t go too crazy with the design. Stay away from vibrant, multi-colour designs and whimsical typefaces. Make your business cards simply professional, and focus on conveying the exact message you need to convey.

Business cards turn forgettable conversations into opportunities for you and your business. Get the design right, and you will be reaping the benefits!

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In every design, some elements should be connected, or similar to one another, to show a clear relationship, while other elements should remain separated to stand out or signal different meanings and actions. The solid execution of this principle plays a major role in the overall success of any design.

Separation and Contrast

As human beings, we are all distinctly wired to detect contrast. It is a trait our ancestors developed to rapidly differentiate friends from things that wanted to eat them. The power of contrast and separation in design is directly related to this innate ability.

Contrast catches the eye and draws immediate attention. Many professional designers agree that it is the most effective tool for establishing points of emphasis in a design. However, it also serves as a great way to separate different elements.

Consider the difference between normal, bold and italicised text. Each type stands out as different from the rest. An article with randomly mixed bold, italicised and normal text would flow terribly, but when these contrasting features are used correctly, they can improve the readability of a design.

Connection and Similarity

The survival trait that allows humans to quickly determine contrast and separation also allows us to promptly group connected and similar elements. In turn, this ability represents the key to why humans are so exceptional at finding patterns, which offer context in the world around us and speed up our learning process.

When two elements are visually similar in a design, the viewer assumes that they are connected. The importance of one element signals the equal importance of the similar element. This principle shows why it is so easy for viewers to instantly distinguish and utilise links within blocks of text. While visual contrast separates the links from the other text, visual similarity connects their meaning to all the other links the viewer has clicked in the past.

The connection created by the use of similarity adds consistency and familiarity to a design. By making the process of grouping information as simple as possible, similarity makes the overall design more readable and aids in clearly communicating the intended message.

The Relationship between Connection and Separation

No matter how hard a designer might try, nothing can have meaning in isolation. Every element relies on context to communicate its message. Every technique or principle that applies to the connection of elements also applies to the separation of elements. These two design basics simply represent opposite ends of the scale of similarity.

Too much connection within a design makes it dull and unappealing, while too much separation creates information overload and general noise. Professional designers use a careful mix of these two principles to clearly convey the intended message to the target audience.

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1. Contrast

Although the importance of contrast is fairly well known among designers, the addition of extra contrast continues to be overlooked and under-used in many design projects around the world. Thin, high-contrast lines can be an excellent tool to help viewers easily identify the different sections of a page. This technique does not need to standout in the design. A single, lightly-coloured, 1-pixel line can be placed next to a dark, 1-pixel line will do the trick!

Professional designers also use stark contrasts in colour to make certain elements stand out. For example, with a serene blue and grey colour scheme, a link filled with a carefully-selected red tone will draw attention to that link without hindering the overall appeal of the design.

2. Kerning

Kerning refers to the distance between letters in a design. This technique can greatly impact the effectiveness of logos, headlines, paragraphs and any other text-based element. Most designs do not require extravagant text features and techniques. However, many professional designers use alterations in kerning to match the purpose of their designs. For example, less letter spacing can make short statements seem more powerful and concise.

While kerning may not seem like an important step to great design, poor letter spacing can mean the difference between and effective piece and a complete failure. When first learning to make kerning alterations, most designers are surprised by the huge difference it makes.

3. UPPERCASE vs. lowercase

Since the changing of case is such a simple step, many designers overlook the potential advantage of careful case use. The use of all uppercase with an element not only provides an excellent tool for grabbing viewer attention, but it also allows the designer to maintain legibility in very small buttons or other applications. This technique should only be used on the most important elements of the design, since the impact of all uppercase text decreases every time it is used.

4. Gradients

Due to recent advancements in technology, the ability to create gradients is available to almost anyone. However, this technique can cause an array of design problems when used improperly. Moderation, subtlety and focus are all keys to the successful use of gradients. In most cases, complex gradients should only be used on a few select elements that need to grab the attention of the viewer. Any other elements should feature very subtle gradients if any.

While an experienced designer can find adventurous ways to utilise different gradients throughout a design, the resulting lack of consistency often hinders the overall appeal.

Although these four techniques represent just a few of the many simple ways to improve a design, learning how to use them effectively can make a huge difference on the effectiveness of the final project.

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No matter what message you are trying to send or medium you are utilising to reach your target audience, they may choose to ignore you within less than 50 milliseconds. This clearly shows the importance of professional design and its ability to create an effective first impression.

Google’s Research

Google recently took a deeper look into first impressions regarding web design. In the study, they re-enforced the 50 millisecond timeframe for building a first impression. Although this first impression depends on a variety of different factors including spacing, symmetry, fonts, structure and content, there are two primary design factors that play the most significant role:

Visual Complexity – Refers to the complexity of the visual design as a whole
Prototypicality – Refers to how a design fits within its category, does the design look like users think it should (similar to others in the industry/category)?

Visual designs that were overly-complex and unfamiliar designs that don’t fit with their category were seen as less attractive by the individuals in the study. As a takeaway from this study, professional designers and business owners should understand that users like simple and familiar designs. Success will be far less likely with innovative and unconventional layouts.

Essential Elements

On average, it takes a little over 2.5 seconds for a consumer’s eyes to focus on a specific area of your design that has the largest impact on their first impression. Eye-movement studies have shown which elements are most important within a design. With any print design, advertisement or web application, the company logo comes first. Typical users spend over 6 seconds focusing on this one key element. On webpages, the second most important element is the main navigation menu, followed by the search box.

Other essential elements of a design include the primary image, written content and “footer.” Since first impressions make such a huge difference in engagement and viewing duration, professional designers should focus on making these key elements look amazing.

Professional Design Emphasis

Almost everyone can remember a time when their parent or professor emphasised the importance of first impressions for job interviews, but some don’t realise how strongly this same idea affects the creation of a great design.

Professional designers know how to develop a design that presents the best first impression possible, and without a good first impression, none of your amazing strategies, campaigns, products or services will matter. In the blink of an eye, your target consumers will simply turn around and ignore your powerful message.

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1. Building a brand

A company’s brand serves as the primary identifier for consumers and other stakeholders. It is essential to the long-term success of your business and begins with an effective logo design. Although some small start-up companies use generic templates to create their logo on their own, smart business owners and marketers understand that the logo design is far too important to complete without the help of a professional designer.

Your brand should expand to all aspects within your business. The overall design should focus on communicating in a functional, professional and attractive way to your intended audience. It should offer an immediate connection to the exceptional products and services provided by your company.

2. A Symbol for your entire company

No matter how you run your workplace, your employees are likely buried behind publications, stationary, business web pages and other standards of the firm. Studies have shown that employees are happier when working with designs that consistently represent the company’s brand and mission. A corporate identity does wonders for building morale and productivity within a business, as long as the employees are truly attached and committed to the brand. Professional graphic design drives that sense of attachment and commitment.

3. All about first impressions

It is a well-known fact that first impressions matter. Whether you are attending an interview for your dream job or representing your company to an important prospective client, the type of initial impression you make can mean the difference between success and failure. Cheap-looking graphic designs will not provide the impression you need. In fact, consumers often perceive poor designs as a signal of poor quality and a lack of professionalism. By using professional graphic design, you show clients, vendors and other stakeholders that you value professionalism.

4. Professional designs actually save you money!

Although professional designs may require a higher initial investment, poor graphic design will most likely cost you more in the long run. In many cases, cheap designs lack flexibility and only look the way you want them to on digital screens. These designs will force you to spend additional funds in order to get them ready for print campaigns. Due to this increased production cost, they will be much more expensive than professional graphics that have been designed with multiple mediums in mind. Spending a significant piece of your marketing budget on designs that fail to transfer across all mediums is a very dangerous long-term decision for your business.

By ignoring the graphic design needs of your firm, you place the perceptions of all your stakeholders, including those of your best clients, at risk. Professional design can be used as a tool to improve all aspects of your company!

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Logo design is even more important in today’s fast-paced, online world. The need to stand out among the others is bigger than ever. These tips and tricks from professional designers provide some insight into great logo creation, but remember, these points only represent the tip of the iceberg in a very complex process.

Learning the Basics

Before one can even begin creating good logo designs, he must learn all the basics behind this process. Among other qualities, most successful logos are practical, graphic, distinctive, appropriate to the subject matter and simple in form.

Simple designs offer easy recognition and versatility in the logo world. Great logos include a unique or unexpected element without becoming overly complicated. Logos must also be memorable. One of the basic goals of logo design is to help customers and other parties to remember the company.

It is also important to focus on longevity when designing a logo. Once a company has established its brand and logo, the costs of switching to another one are high. For this reason, a good logo designer ensures that his logo will remain effective for many years.

Good logo also work effectively across many different applications and mediums. For example, a good logo design looks great on a billboard and on a mobile-friendly website. Even after meeting all these criteria, a logo cannot reach its full potential if it is not appropriate to its subject matter.

Avoid Clichés

When brainstorming, there are many elements that always come into mine for almost any purpose. For example, a designer trying to create an element to represent an “idea” will almost always think of a light bulb. One trying to portray an “international” symbol may think of a globe symbol.

However, these types of symbols are the first to come to mind for a reason, they are common. For a logo designer, common is not a good thing. A logo cannot stand out among the competition with basic, common elements. Designers must stay away from these visual clichés and use creativity to come up with a different element.

Research and Communication

Although some may believe it, logo design is about much more than creating something “pretty.” Professional logo designers understand that they are playing an important role in the development of an entire brand. They know that in-depth research is essential to success and communicate regularly with their clients throughout the process.

Communication between the designer and the company is especially important during the early stages of the process. It can be easy to misinterpret the direction or message a company needs in their logo, and a logo that doesn’t fulfil its true intended purpose is a complete failure. Clear, open communication in the beginning helps eliminate these problems.

While there are many more professional logo design tips out there, understanding the true importance and complexity of logo design is the true key. It is very rare that a great logo is created without the help of a professional designer, and a business with a sub-par or even average logo is simply missing opportunities for sales and value growth.

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What is Your Goal?

To reach your target market effectively, you need to think about the best possible options for conveying your message. You need to ensure that you do more than simply state your skill sets for your customers. You should be highlighting how you can meet their needs. For example, if you we’re selling print design services, you would want to say something like “our designs can captivate your intended audience.” To determine these goals effectively, you’ll need to know all about what your target market likes and what they need.

Design for Business

Although you now have greater intentions and goals behind your design, you can’t forget about the fundamentals. If the design fundamentals are not present in a design, the final design will be ineffective. Visual hierarchy is the most important of all design fundamentals. The designer’s primary task is to get the audience to look at the most important elements first.

Before creating a design for business marketing, the designer should outline a hierarchy of the most important messages down to the elements of minor importance. The designer can then utilise placement, balance and layout techniques to attract viewers to the important messages first. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to have a great design. Just make sure that your target market is getting the information you intend for them.

Creative Ways to Hit Your Target Market

While identifying you goals and staying committed to design fundamentals will give you a great head start towards a great business design, these ideas can provide extra inspiration when needed:

Targeted Aesthetics
You should build your design based on the preferred aesthetics of your target market. Find out what other brands that your target audience uses to get a feel for these aesthetics. Never copy a design, but instead use these brands for inspirational purposes.

Address Urgency
One widely overlooked aspect of design comes from a designer forgetting to address the urgency associated with the needs of the target audience. For example, if you’re building a website for an emergency care clinic, you don’t want the design to get in the way of the solution. You should try to solve the customer’s problem in as few steps as possible.

While there are many other creative ways to engage your target audience, hitting your target market with design takes unique ideas and strong fundamentals. Without the target market in mind, a designer lacks the proper guidance to complete a truly special design. Do your research and set clear goals. You will have a great target-market-focused design before you know it!

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Typographic Design

Most people don’t realise just how far typography reaches. It goes way beyond the simple font list on your type menu. In today’s design world, a successful designer does much more than simply choosing a typeface. Typography is pivotal in determining a design’s identity and overall effectiveness. Fonts convey their own message through different personalities and characteristics. They can either keep a design on track or send it spinning into catastrophe.

A decade ago, designers chose from a few hundred fonts when creating a graphic design. Today, there are millions of custom-made fonts shared on the internet. By concentrating on solid typography practices and spending some time on the layout, a designer can create a powerful advertisement with typographic design.

Versatility

The prominence of the digital world has created an array of new mediums for graphic design including, videos, webpages, digital signage and more. The best advertising and promotional campaigns have a graphic design that is versatile and recognisable across all mediums, new and old.

Graphic designers need to keep versatility in mind when developing a design. The message should be as clear and focused on large billboard sized spaces as it is on your mobile app.

Big Design

Big design is a trend that serves as a true example of versatility in practice. The websites being built today typically lean towards a clearer, more straightforward and large approach. The size factor makes sense because, as more consumers use their mobile devices to surf the web, the larger designs work more effectively on these smaller screens. Big banners and large buttons make websites easier to navigate from a mobile device.

Although some large corporations offer a separate website for mobile devices, most companies cannot afford this costly option. There are also a few problems with mobile sites that often frustrate users. Mobile sites can be confusing to navigate and may not provide all the information given by the full site. Many users end up clicking the “view full site” anyways. A designer can avoid all these problems by creating a website with mobile device users in mind. Large clear design elements can help to make one site effective on all devices.

Conceptual Design

The idea or concept of a product or service is much more important than the marketing efforts that may be done to increase its sales volume. Rather than trying to “sell” a product or service through quality, location, price or other traditional marketing elements, conceptual design focuses on stopping the viewer in his tracks with a unique concept or idea. Conceptual designers incorporate visual elements that evoke a strong emotional response. Whether this response is sad, humorous or just mind opening, the message should be even louder than the design. That is conceptual design.

As the world of design continues to progress, the possibilities are infinite. Trends like these serve as inspiration for many designers as they create the new wave of amazing designs.

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