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Graphic design has many functions. Whether it’s to grab a viewer’s attention, create a sense of identity for your brand, or to simply convey a message in a clear way. Effectively utilizing the fundamentals to achieve a design that excels in all these areas can be overwhelming for someone new to the medium. That is why I have put together a guide to navigating some of the basic principles of graphic design that you can refer to when working on your next project.
Keep it Simple
When using a platform like Adobe Illustrator or Canva it can be easy to get carried away with unnecessary flare that may distract from the intention, or even the readability of your design. This is why it’s important to make sure each element of your design is there for a reason. When choosing fonts, you should keep in mind that it can be difficult to read a design that contains a multitude of different fonts. To get your message across effectively, consider sticking to a smaller library of simple fonts. It’s surprising how much switching between the variants (bold, italic, and condensed) can alter the look of your text while remaining cohesive to the rest of your design.
Contrast and Color
Contrast plays a big part in ensuring the text in your design is legible. Simply put, if the text you are using is in a lighter shade, then you should make the background of the design darker so that the words pop off the page. This principle can be applied into all aspects of your design and after you train your brain to utilize contrast in your designs it’ll become second nature. Color schemes add a layer of complexity to the world of design. Choosing the right colors can feel extremely difficult if you don’t know what to look out for, so without getting lost in the weeds of color theory here are some simple color schemes to get you started.
- Monochromatic- this color scheme is when you use multiple tints/shades of a single color (a range from lime green to hunter green).
- Analogous- this is when you use a set of three colors that are next to each other on the color wheel (red, red/violet, and violet).
- Complementary- this is a color scheme that uses colors that sit on opposite ends of the color wheel (blue and orange).
- Triatic- this color scheme is when you use three colors that are equally spaced on the color wheel. One main color and two accent colors (yellow, red/violet, and blue/violet).
Composition and Using a Grid.
When creating a composition, it’s helpful to keep in mind the idea of balance. Balance in this context is referring to the distribution of “visual weight”, which is made up of anything you decide to put on the page, such as text, images, graphics, etc. Make sure you take advantage of the space and don’t:
- consolidate all your visual information to one portion of the composition, or;
- space the elements of your design too far apart.
This is where using a grid comes into play. A grid is a guide that consists of a series of invisible horizontal and vertical lines that help the graphic designer align the elements of their composition. For an effective design, it is often crucial to align all your elements to a grid so that your piece feels consistent and visually appealing.
As you can see, a lot of fundamentals and planning go into the creation of a successful graphic design, but it’s worth mentioning that it’s not always a perfect science. Art is subjective and some rules are meant to be broken. However, you must know the rules to break them in an effective way, so I hope this article was able to make you feel more knowledgeable on the subject. If you’d like the assistance of a professional, please contact a solutionist here at AG Marketing Solutions for any of your design/marketing needs.
