Alrighty, let’s talk graphic design and how you should approach the design process to optimize your creative potential. Easy, right? 😅
First of all, and I may start some arguments by saying this, anyone can be a graphic designer. I say this as a comfort to you who may know little, or nothing, about design. Everyone has to start somewhere!
Your process and how you even approach starting your design project can be the difference between a mediocre (or even bad) design and a freakin’ solid design that communicates precisely what you want.
There are numerous rules and general design practices that you’ll want to follow to create a jaw-dropping design piece, but let’s approach this branding project for The Sweet Retreat as beginner designers and discuss 5 good practices.
1. Finding Inspiration
Before you even THINK of starting your design project, you need to find inspiration.
Okay, ‘need’ might be a tad excessive, but it could be the difference between an okay design and the design of the century. 🤩
I highly recommend looking at
Behance for inspiration. It’s basically the glorified
Pinterest (which is another great resource) purely for design.
Some things to look for during this phase are:
- Type treatment.
- Colour combination.
- Illustration styles.
- Textures.
- Photography elements.
And essentially anything that catches your eye or makes you do a double take. Why did that design make you look again and how could you implement a similar idea for your own design strategy? Remember, for inspiration only, NEVER copy pixel for pixel. ☝️
2. Concept Development
After you’ve gathered enough inspiration to have an idea of your design direction, it’s time to start developing concepts. 🤓
Take a marker and piece of paper (or tablet and stylus if you prefer) and start sketching! The idea with concepts is to sketch out as many different layouts, styles that fit your idea, and type treatment in a short amount of time.
Keep in mind, this is still in the experimental stage! Don’t focus on perfecting a design (in fact, I highly advise against looking into details), it’s quantity of quality at this point.
After you’ve explored different design ideas, layouts, and placements. Go through all your sketches and choose your favourite elements to incorporate into one piece!
3. Typography
Now that you have a pretty solid idea for your design concept, it’s time for the fun part!
Looking at different font options for hours upon hours. 🫠
To all graphic designers out there, I know you spent more time looking for the ‘perfect’ typeface than the time actually designing. I feel ya there. 🥲
At this stage, you ideally have developed a style for your design. When looking at typography, you should aim for fonts that follow your chosen style.
Some questions you may ask yourself:
- Is my design ‘friendly’? Consider a sans-serif rounded font.
- Am I going for a grungier effect? Maybe you’ll want a bold textured decorative font.
- Is the style more feminine? You’ll likely opt for a thin serif font with a cursive pairing.
4. Colour Palette
Let’s talk colour. 💪
Assuming you’ve chosen your fonts and created your graphic elements, your design is ready for the final touch.
Colour evokes emotion; it’s SO important to keep colour theory in mind when choosing your palette.
Are you trying to portray a feeling of joy? Use warmer colours. Are you speaking about the environment? Maybe green, blue, or earthy tones would be a wise choice. Is this for a brand? Use the appropriate brand colours.
Once you’ve determined the mood you’re going for, it’s simply *chef’s kiss* from here. 🤌
If you’re struggling on what colours to choose and don’t know which colours complement each other, refer to your inspiration research or use a colour generator like
Adobe Color.
5. White Space
It’s impossible not to mention this design principle because it’s honestly one of THE MOST important rules out there.
White space is the amount of room between each element of your design. We’re talking about the empty areas between graphic elements, icons, photography, or typography.
Good design almost always has an appropriate amount of white space, unless you are going for a maximalist style of course. You 👏 DO 👏 NOT 👏 want to have your design elements all squished together and illegible.
The emphasis or message of your design will get lost if you don’t have supporting breathing room. I realize it’s cliché, but sometimes less is more.
So please, PLEASE, check your design and make the necessary adjustments to account for white space for peak legibility.
The process of design development greatly varies from person to person. It’s important to tweak this process according to what works best for you. Would you rather explore colours before finalizing your fonts? Go for it!
This outline should be used as a general guide for people who don’t know where to start in the design process. The whole idea is to get ideas flowing, in whatever way works for you!
Feel free to comment on what your process looks like and add some additional tips so others can implement your suggestions! Let’s help each other create sick designs. 🤝
~ Melody Elizabeth
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