There is nothing more captivating than an excellent design, but it’s nothing without the “Ohhhhh” of understanding. When the brain and eye connect, the design has meaning and becomes stunning.
Whether it’s physical, digital, or somewhere in between, design affects everything. Designing a stunning website and outstanding business cards is only the beginning of graphic design. Learn more below.
Color Palette
When picking on a color palette for your brand, it’s not always easy to figure out where to begin, even after studying color psychology. Brands are visible and tangible primarily because of color. Colour contributes to brand recognition and memorability and attracts and enchants the right clients to a brand. While a color palette can be an essential part of branding, many creative entrepreneurs struggle to develop one.
You don’t need any superior skills to create an eye-catching color scheme. Combining primary and secondary colors that complement each other and contrast are the best choices for your color scheme. Adjust the brightness for contrast to achieve consistency with different shades of the same color. For fine fonts, the contrast between typeface and background needs to be stronger for clarity and readability.
Consistent and Readable Fonts
The essence of a successful brand lies in keeping the design consistent. Too many fonts create confusion. The best way to create a lasting identity is by implementing a single typeface in varying styles and weights. Typography is an important tool for businesses trying to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Over 200,000 fonts are available in today’s digital world. Typography includes punctuation, numerals, and symbols in its complete character set. Good typefaces have many of the same design features. Among them are:
- X-heights and cap
- Overhangs on curvy characters like e, n, and o
- Width of characters
- The width of the stroke
- An ascender or descender’s size
- Details of serifs (for serif typeface)
Besides aesthetics, typography also has to do with readability. When typography serves both purposes, it is flawless. A legibility level ties to how much space there is between letters, words, and lines in the text. By adjusting the leading, kerning, and tracking, you can control the space between the typographic elements.
Compress Your Images & Graphics
There are three kinds of responses to a design in Milton Glaser’s words – yes, no, and WOW! WOW is what you are aiming for.
Image compression is an essential tool, whether you’re designing for print, the web, TV, or film. We can send files without spending hours sending hundreds of megabytes. Our landing pages load quickly, and browsing the web becomes effortless thanks to the power of compression.
During image optimization, the primary goal is to reduce file sizes as much as possible while maintaining quality. Pretty straightforward, right? Make all your assets lean as possible, including your graphics, icons, and video. How? Follow these steps:
- Resizing pixels – Make the image pixels smaller proportionately to the size of the site or design
- Cropping images – Remove parts of the images you do not want to be visible in the final design or build
- Image compression – reduce the image size using software or plugins
Don’t Forget About ADA Compliance
Graphic designers are not subject to government regulations, but environmental graphic designers who work in public areas must adhere to several laws. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines established in 1990 outlined guidelines for designers and architects of environmental graphics. Since then, they have rewritten the original regulations and made them more complex and restrictive to some. They made updates in 2003.
SEGD published a White Paper Update in 2006 to clarify existing laws about typography for the blind, text on signs, and innovation to accommodate blind and visually impaired people’s needs for way-finding. A lawsuit could force you to change or remove a project if it doesn’t meet the set guidelines.
Published in September 2010, they based the ADA Standards for Accessible Design on American Disability Act (ADA). These guidelines require that all electronic and information technology be accessible to people with disabilities.
In contrast to the ADA, Section 508 regulations are amendments to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and apply to all aspects of technological development, including computers hardware and software. Who does the law affect?
- Employers with fifteen or more employees
- Families, friends, and caregivers of Americans with disabilities
- Government agencies at all levels
- Businesses that serve the public interest
How Can You Comply with ADA?
ADA accessibility standards are subject to self-regulation, and the Department of Justice is currently bringing regulations to industry to give specific guidance. While the Department of Justice has not defined the laws, organizations can use the WCAG 2.0 level AA guidelines to comply. See the DOJ’s ANPRM notice from July 26 for more information on the proposed rulemaking.
The idea is to enlarge your target personas to embrace people with disabilities by creating designs and interactive elements that work for people with:
- Poor vision
- Deafness
- Color blindness
- Physical restrictions
- People with mental disabilities using a varied mixture of “assistive technologies.”
Whenever you create a product or service, you must consider several factors, including aesthetics, engineering, safety, and environmental concerns. Universal design is one that designers often overlook. It refers to designing products and services so they are accessible to people with a variety of disabilities, characteristics, and abilities.
Let’s Help You Stand Out in Your Design
Business owners may find design time-consuming and confusing. But if we put in the work, you will gain a loyal audience by creating a stellar design. Your brand counts. Your business goals, objectives, and message to your audience are unique only to you. Contact us with your graphic design needs for exciting ideas. After all, graphic design is all about experimenting and exploring.