If you are getting into graphic design or you are a working professional, sometimes it can be difficult to get the right design for what you want to do. Sometimes, though, it is the very simple things that really make a design “pop” and it is just a case of simplifying your work. Here are some great and simple tips for simplifying your work and getting the effect that you want. Perhaps someone may even want to buy your work too!

Consistency

One of the most tempting things to do in design is to try and use all the colours and fonts that are possible, but this is without a doubt the easiest mistake you can make. When you provide too much contrast you risk confusing the person that is looking at your work and potentially turning them off. Consistency means fonts, colours and most everything else. When you are consistent you provide a clear and simple message and your design is better for it.

Crop images properly

The worst thing to see in design is poorly cropped images and these never look good. When I say poorly cropped it does not mean that they are poorly cropped on their own, but they do not fit the other elements of a design. An image should always be cropped in such a way to enhance the other elements of the picture and not obscure it in any way.

Placement

Placement is another key element that can easily be done incorrectly. You should always consider what the focal points are supposed to be in your work. For example, text and a picture. The picture should always be relevant and should not obscure the text in any way. In this way the placement of both is very important. I always like to place an image first and then experiment with where the text might go, if I can’t find a solution I will tweak the position of the image.

Create a visual perspective

When using something like an infographic, a naturally complementary tool is always shapes and forms that can help you to display the statistics that you have. For example you could compare three different percentages with three pie charts with the corresponding percentage. Not only does it look good, it helps to break down the numbers and words and give them some real meaning.