There are hundreds of great graphic design posts – and endless lists of tips and tricks. But, most of those lists are for graphic designers that design for a living, or for people who need advanced tips and ideas. I have found that while helpful, we often forget some of the basic design rules that everyone should know. Regardless if you design for pay or just for fun, these rules will help everything you do look more precise, professional and power
ful.1. White space is your friend. Step away from the color, the boxes and the images. Leaving white space on the page will cause the eye to draw to the important factors in the page – allowing the reader to understand the key points. If a page is too cluttered, the reader doesn’t know what to look at, and you run the risk of your message getting lost.
As you plan your poster, be sure to leave ample white space. This makes your poster appear less cluttered, and helps you distribute information proportionally. 
2. Don’t let your font’s overpower the message Whether creating a piece, whether it is for a website or a magazine the font you choose is important. You’re not going to use BOopee (or a goofy font like it) when talking about a funeral home, nor would you want to use Edwardian Script (or a formal font) when talking about what your 10 year old thinks of his snack food. With that said, you also want to make sure not to pick too many fonts. The best rule is to choose 3 fonts: a font that is for the main writing, a font for the headers, and a ‘fun’ font for highlighting specific words. This will allow your message to get across cleanly, and still allow you a little fun.3. Pick colors that compliment, not detract I talk a lot about color, how it affects you, and places to find it. I talk about it so much because it is so important. How many times have you seen something and your first thought was ‘the color is wrong’. If this is what you are thinking about, then the message can’t get through! There is no such thing as the right color – mixing things up is a good thing. But, trying to mix too many colors can be overwhelming. Remember, color may surprise you, you just need to know where to look.
4. If people have to hunt for it, they won’t find it Want people to call you? Give them your number. Want people to email you? Give them your email. Simple huh? It seems that this is not common sense. Many times, we get so carried away with making a design ‘look pretty’ that we forget to make it useful too. Unless you are entering your piece in a contest, more than likely the goal is to get a response, so make sure that the people can respond easily.
5. Spell check. Grammar check. No matter how beautiful the site or the design is, if there are spelling or grammar errors, it will be ruined. Do not trust your computer to check the grammar, it won’t. This also includes double checking that your contact information is right, and all the links work. A non-working design fails, no matter the beauty of it.
6. It’s okay to break the ‘rules’. See? I just did, and the sky didn’t fall. Sometimes it is okay to step outside what is expected, to get that surprised response from your audience. Just remember, do it too often, and like anything else, it gets old and boring.
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