The very basics of design

The very basics of design

Keep the design and layout simple and clean

The more cluttered or messy the layout and design is for your marketing collateral, the harder it would be for your customers to find the important stuff. So, don’t overcrowd the design of your marketing materials. First and foremost, it should be kept clean and very simple. Yes, we all want to fit as much information as we can into the design but hey, keep the purpose of the design of the marketing stuff in mind. You want to design a novel or design something that sells.

Design Colors

If you have a set of corporate colors (like the colors you use on your logo, letterhead, envelopes … etc), keep the same colors in your design. You should present a very simplistic, unique, corporate, professional, coherent, not random image. How can anyone rely on you when you have that kind of image, right? It is best not to use too many colors for your design. And another important point about designing marketing materials is this; avoid using all the colors of the rainbow in one design! You’re not trying to confuse your customers, you’re trying to make it easier for them to find information, attract them and urge them to buy something from you! I would say using 2 or 3 main colors from your corporate color for the design is good enough.

Fonts

There are tons of free fonts (pretty incredibly attractive) that you can find on the internet for designing your marketing content - but the sad news is that it isn’t always possible to use all of them. Stick to a single font for the content of your design. If you want, you can use a different (bolder and louder) font for the headings and titles in your design.

Images in your design

Unlike web publishing, it is always a good idea to use images in the design of your brochures, flyers, menus, company profiles. You are encouraged to attract your customers with helpful pictures or diagrams that illustrate your point or that include images of your products in the design of your marketing material. Be careful and wary of using stock photos from the web for your marketing material. One, the resolution of such images (the ones you can get from the internet) is never good enough for printing. Two, you’ll get in trouble with the people who actually own the rights to those images. Therefore, if possible, if you want to use illustrative photographs or images in your design, it is best to either obtain the photographs for the design yourself (with your digital camera) or simply purchase them.

Feel free to reach out to me if you need help with what is right for you, using this link.

Cheers!

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