Design 101 - Seven Design Tips

Fundamental Design Tips & Concepts

There are numerous concepts that are vital to successful graphic design. With more than 25 years at a commercial printing facility I have witnessed countless designers, many of which were very talented, make some very basic mistakes due to a lack of understanding of some fundamental concepts.

Lack of knowledge can cause embarrassment at the least, or can cost a designer time and even money.

— Design 101 Checklist —

Monitor Calibration - photos should not be adjusted for color unless the monitor has been color calibrated. Doing so could actually damaging a photo's color that may have already been correct as it was. Depending on the level of accuracy needed, monitor calibration can be absolutely free or somewhat expensive.
Color Space - an understanding of color gamma and how it relates to ink colors used in commercial printing is important for making color choices. The RGB color space that your monitor uses is quite different than the CMYK and PMS color spaces available in commercial printing.
Software - the most professional, dependable and universally used design programs in commercial printing are Adobe products and (optional) Quark Xpress. There are less expensive design software programs available, such as Microsoft Publisher and Corel Draw, but they are not as well supported nor as trouble-free.

For professional software training, I recommend Lynda.com for their outstanding training videos. Their videos are a great way to learn the basics of a software program in a short amount of time.
Vector Graphics - countless logos are made by "professional" designers, many of which are quite talented, in the WRONG program! A logo should always be created in a vector art drawing program — not in Photoshop. An understanding of and ability to create both raster graphics & vector graphics is crucial to a designer's overall success.
Typography - for professional presentations, there are traditional typography rules (do's & don'ts) and what is considered in "good taste" that should be followed under most circumstances. Following traditional typography methods and avoiding common errors will help your documents to have a much more polished and professional appearance.
Printer Ready Artwork (camera ready art) - your artwork should be properly prepared before submitting to a commercial printing facility. Receiving artwork that is correct "as is" has always been a difficulty for printing companies. Now that nearly everyone has a computer has only exasperated the problem.

Common errors that cause an art file to NOT be printer ready art include:
wrong document size, no bleed, insufficient margin, low image resolution and incorrect color usage.
Spell Check - use it. This one seems obvious, but is often neglected . . .
A note of warning for those who use Microsoft Publisher: the "default" spell check preference is to ignore spell-checking all cap lettering. You might want to "Uncheck" this default preference.

Useful Links

for graphic design and website development

— Freelance Professional Graphic Design & Custom Website Development | Graphic Artist Studio in Lee's Summit, Missouri —

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