A BUNCH OF CRAP – but the good kind!
When you own a business, you need to wear many hats. In addition to your management and leadership skills, you’ll also need to handle finances and become an official spokesperson for your business.
But in today’s marketplace, you’ll also need to advertise your business in order to reach a wider target audience. Whenever you want to grab your audience’s attention, you’ll want to create a message that appeals to their senses.
Specifically, basic design skills can help you brand your business and present your message in a professional, creative way. If you haven’t studied graphic design before, don’t worry. Read the rest of our blog post for a simple explanation of the four basic principles that will guide your business’s design.
1. Contrast
The first basic design principle is contrast, or the idea that different colors, shapes, and sizes will draw your readers’ attention best.
To use contrast in your designs, make sure that you choose a color scheme that combines light and dark shades. You should also use a variety of fonts for your title and captions to create visual contrast in your text.
However, too much contrast can become a distraction for your readers. Instead of using 15 different fonts, colors, and images that crowd out your central message, stick to two or three different design elements to keep your layout unified.
2. Repetition
In contrast with the first basic principle of design, the second principle helps you create unity. The rule of repetition indicates that you should reuse some key themes in your design so that readers can easily recognize and identify your brand.
For example, if you use red, white, and blue as the signature colors for your logo, you should repeat these same colors in every print publication you order.
You can also utilize repetition with the shapes and fonts you select. If your logo uses an elongated cursive script, you can mimic the curves of this font with curved shapes and a similar font for all your headings.
You’ll know that your designs effectively use repetition when the casual observer can identify advertisements that belong to your company at a glance. Repetition is especially useful when you employ a multichannel marketing campaign.
3. Alignment
Alignment refers to the placement of all the design elements on a page. If you put the text at the top left corner of the page and then place your logo in the center of the page with images scattered around the edges, your readers won’t know where to look for specific information about your company.
But if you carefully arrange the elements on the page so that all the images and text align with the same invisible line, you’ll create a logical flow that pleases the eye.
As a general rule, the edges of your images should line up with the margins of your text. This principle generates clean lines and plenty of white space that appeal to your readers visually.
4. Proximity
Like alignment, proximity teaches you to keep related images, paragraphs, and titles visually grouped together. This arrangement won’t just allow for more white space-it will also communicate the information of your ads in the most concise way possible.
When you place the most relevant images and words close to each other on the page, you send a visual signal to the reader that these elements have something in common. That way, your readers can quickly interpret the most important details of your advertisement and internalize your persuasive message.
Notice that these four design elements don’t require you to have any experience with software or art. The four basic principles of design simply allow you to showcase your brand’s message in the most effective way.
Want to continue reading for a much deeper dive on the principles of design, complete with design do’s and don’t? Review this content from our friends at Qwilrs: 8 design shortcuts for visually impressive documents.
Still not sure where to start or need additional help? Contact Flottman Company for your printing needs and FUSIONWRX Inc. for your marketing needs. All the strategy, design and production assistance you need, one phone call away!
