Graphic designing as a profession is very competitive and even those experienced designers can easily get into common mistakes that will make their designing ineffective. Such blunders are frequent and it is hence helpful for the new-coming or less experienced designer in the field to at least know some of the most common ones so as to avoid them in his or her work. Here, in this blog, we will discuss the 5 most common mistakes realized in the portfolios of the newbie graphic designers. Starting from the complete absence of visual identity to questionable typographical choices and overly stuffed designs, we talk about why it’s unadvisable to use them and give tips on how to avoid the pitfalls. So here are a few tips to ensure that not only do you enhance your designs but also create yourself a reputation of being a design rockstar.
A popular mistake is the absence of harmonization between the numerous elements that make up the composition. Younger designers can have issues with translating a design aesthetic and voice consistently through typography, color, images, and layouts and many others. Yet another common problem is unreadable typography: excessive number of font types, bad combinations of font types, too big or too small font, as well as inadequate font color against the background. Another issue is cluttered and overcrowded design where the information is usually hidden, and there is no clear hierarchy. It is common to have pixelized or blurred images, wrong format, and it helps to ruin any design. Lastly, it is common for many new designers to design for themselves and not for the intended market or consumer base.
Maintaining a cohesive visual style and brand identity across all design elements is crucial.Common issues include:
Containing typographic discordance (use of improper fonts, font combinations, font sizes, etc. )
Varying color palettes
Disjointed imagery and graphics
Absence of the regular layout and integration which is often seen in a book format
The way to avoid this is to draw strict guidelines for a brand and adhere to them: this will ensure that you never deviate from your brand’s standards and leave a cohesive and professional impression on your audience. It is crucial always to have a consistent visual system in order to cultivate awareness, trust, and professionalism. Younger designers might not be able to achieve this to the optimum, but it is a crucial area that designers should work on when designing products so as to come up with a neat, well-planned and well-coordinated design that is well aligned to the company brand and image.
Typography is one of the key elements of graphic design. Common typography mistakes include:
Employing a large number of font families
font combinations that do not complement each other
Hypertext that is too small or large in size
High similarity between text and background color
It is equally important to make your typography as clear as possible. Your content should be in a format that the readers can easily and quickly go through. Choose only a few fonts, combine them, keep the size as readable as possible, and manage how your text stands out and submerges. Understanding the basic principles of typography will enable you to design better and enhance the usability of interfaces.
Whitespace is denser than the design elements that adjust to it. Common layout issues include:
Getting crowded with so many elements in a specific or one page
Expenditure to bury information within the clutter
No hierarchy in terms of figure-ground and no identifiable focal areas.
Still focusing on the company’s logo and the negative space, it makes sense in terms of the minimalist and optimized approach to the design of a website or an application. Make sure the principal information is emphasized by hovering some areas, and use spacing consistently so that you can manage the direction of a viewer’s sight. Do not overdo the designs – less is often more – try to avoid using as many designs as you can. Nonetheless, as practice by the specialist shows, even simple solutions can help to create stunning and effective layouts.
It is also important to note that for graphics, particularly in design, they need to be well formatted, high quality.Common image quality issues include:
Runs, pixelated, blurry or distorted images.
Incorrect or less desirable formats of the image file (For instance, using a JPEG file when the image has transparency).
Full size images that are not sized or cropped in appropriate way depending on the location where they are going to be used.
variation in image style, resolution, and various treatments applied to them in a design.
It is important to get permission professionally to use the images and also to cut them appropriately.
Acquire high resolution, royalty free stock imagery in order for the website
Know how to edit photos using professional tools such as Adobe Photoshop or Canva to optimize visuals you wish to display.
It is crucial to test image files that are used to make sure that they develop properly with the help of several systems and in different formats.
Blurriness and graininess, among other issues which define poor image quality, are capable of greatly reducing the general impression of professionalism within a design. Potential issues that can be seen right away are low quality, wrong format pictures, videos and graphics that can harm the audience’s trust and attention to the company’s key message. It is very important to achieve the right images since it will enhance designs, and make a whole corporate theme attractive to the viewers.
Based on guidelines for graphic design implementation, it means that one of its key axioms is creating for the audience.
It is for this reason many newer designers tend to overemphasize their individual taste and their path to becoming a famous fashion designer is permanently shut.
As a consequence, one gets products that may appeal more towards the designer’s sensibilities than towards the actual end user’s requirements
Key considerations when designing with the audience in mind:Key considerations when designing with the audience in mind:
When targeting families, it is essential to dedicate considerable time to research its composition, motivations, needs, and activities.
Design solutions that would meet their exact needs or prevail in as far as offer unique value.
Design versus functionality is an eternal debate and producing designs, which I think are meaningful, it is crucial to find the middle ground between expressing creativity and providing actual use.
Do not create something that might seem pleasing to the eye of a designer, but abandoned from the audience’s significance.
Designers need to create useful products but implementing these will only be successful if it aligns with the end-user perspective. Therefore, if one is able to comprehend the target markets comprehensively and approach the design with the views of the target market in mind, it will be easy to bring about the concerned graphic work that meet the intended aims and objectives. Candidly approaching the audience shows that designers do not have their own prejudices and this makes them come up with unique designs that effectively capture the core goals of the design.
A profession in graphic design cannot be overemphasized when it comes to the need of receiving the right training and education. While innate abilities such as talent and creativity are beneficial for an artist, it would be naive to deny the importance of practice and learning of various techniques, principles, and standards within the industry. Taking a graphic design course at a university, a community college, or any other professional training center helps the young designers to establish an initial base for their unique technique. With help of professional teachers, learners can master the most popular tools, discover multiple branches of design field and create portfolios to show their skills. This detailed, structured curriculum plays a pivotal role in readying designers for the creation of effective and meaningful visual communications that are demanded by clients and various sectors. Workshops, certifications, and other forms of continued education on the other hand keeps the designers relevant, active and making improvements on their skills all the time.
Conclusively, the five top graphic design mistakes that designers should avoid include bad color combination, poor typography, poster cluttering, low-quality images, and no audience appeal. Designers can take their skills to the next level by mastering core design principles, placing emphasis on user-oriented approach, and developing their technical skills throughout the process of creating designs that are both aesthetically pleasing and have a positive impact on the target audience. In this sense, designers should attend graphic design courses and other professional development courses to gain the skills and knowledge that will enable them prevent such mistakes and create designs that meet their strategy objectives. Learning how to be great at graphic design is a lifelong process, but it is a process that must be undertaken when aspiring to take on the competition.
