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Designing Rules That Designers Must Follow

Date published: October 25, 2017
Last updated: October 25, 2017

Just like all another professions, the design comes with some discipline and rules. From all design features from typography, layout, interface, colors and patterns, the list is long and we have to follow a few basic rules, tips, and tricks. The history of design is constant; there are just a few new things that must be learned to align all the functions and aesthetics as one excellent design layout.

  1. Kern Before You Finalize A Design:

Never hand over your designs before going through a proof look. A sloppy kerning is considered to be one of the worst design mistakes, so it is an essential skill to nail it down at the very start. There is no need to get in deep with the concept of kerning. It is the adjustment of space between characters.

Seems to be simple but it overall decides to either give your design a good look or a bad look? The eventual goal of kerning is to ensure that the space between each letter is clear for a neat and orderly piece of text.

  1. Always Use A Grid:

Developing some necessary grid skills is probably one of the first steps for newbie designers. A well-implemented grid can transform your design from an ordinary shaky design to a clean, clear, and effective design.

Grids are in many shapes and sizes and can be built to be flexible and adaptable to your design. Grids help designers to align all the elements of a design to produce a neater and a more logical design.

  1. Make It Readable For All:

It is a misconception of most of the designers that if a design in readable by them, it is readable by all - which does not work in all the cases. It is not necessary that a design that looks well communicates well. Communication has always been the primary purpose of design, so it makes sense to have the factor of readability as the most crucial section of the overall design.

Readability is not just compromised on just a single factor, in fact, some things hinder the readability of design.

Don’t: Keeping the contrast of the text and background too low.

To do: Keep contrast high to prevent this issue.

Don’t: Designers that use CAPITAL LETTERS in the overall design. It hinders the eye’s ability to distinguish the letterforms.

To do: Keep a mix and match of the capital and the small letters. It is mostly recommended to use lowercase because in lowercase the letterforms look neatly aligned and readable.

  1. Keep A Proper Design Flow:

A resilient and purposeful hierarchy of any design gives a profound look. Within the empire of design, hierarchy concerns the arrangement of visual elements to show the importance of every word. So, the more significant components are made to hold the most attention through scale, color, type, etc. and the least essential elements are designed to hold less attention.

For example:

While designing an invitation, the most important headings must have a more prominent bold font than the information which is not that important.

  1. The Era Of Flat Designs:

The design which catches the eye most predominantly is the flat design trend. For this “literal minimalism” evolution, it is critical to ensure that the minimalist design is both practical and purpose-driven. Minimalism can be in custom logo designs, icon designs and can also be used in a website design.

  1. Do not Stretch Type:

Do not stretch your type. In any case. Fonts are built with style and attention to the shapes and proportions of each letterform, so to alter this by stretching it can just take away from the effectiveness of the font.

  1. Design For The Medium:

Just make sure where is your design going? Either it is going to a website, magazine, billboards, etc. Knowing the correct specifications for your design is such a vital aspect of your design because it is how your design will most be viewed. If you do not account for all the details of the medium you are designing for, you won’t get it right.

The takeaway is mainly this: just because it looks good, doesn’t always mean it communicates well. Treat your type with care!

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