Creating these images and layouts, which is called graphic design, has infinite possibilities and solutions, so that means there is plenty of opportunity for mistakes. I know I’ve made plenty throughout my studies and career—they’ve morphed me into a wiser designer. I put this list together to help expose many issues I often see with people’s work.

This article will cover general design mistakes and the second article in this series will cover common logo design mistakes.

10 Common General Design Mistakes

1. There is no clear focus

Design should be more than words and images placed on a page. The information needs to be organized to support some kind of sales pitch. Think about the brochure rack at a hotel. There are dozens of pamphlets screaming for attention. If a few don’t clearly suggest what they’re advertising then they’re least likely to get picked up.

2. There is no hierarchy of information

This specifically relates to the order in which the information is looked at. Let’s continue with the hotel’s brochure rack. The top couple inches of each brochure is the only part you see at first, so that needs to be a strong focal point. A thick, bold font with a few words speaking the obvious and maybe a smaller supporting graphic would do the trick. “PIRATES’ COVE THEME PARK” with a skull and crossbones is to the point. Below that could be a nice cover image and a few key attractions or cleverly written copy as to why someone should seek adventure there. Inside the brochure should be a clear order of information: headlines to introduce blocks of copy, captions to define photos and so on. Consider the sales pitch to sell the reader in a step-by-step process. The spot you choose for pricing or the park’s location, etc. should all make sense.

3. There is a lack of whitespace

I work on a lot of direct mail advertising and all too often I have to coach clients into trimming down their copy. They have a lot to say and want to fit it all into their ad even if it’s only in 7-point size type. We typically don’t read through an entire ad anyway, so a ridiculous amount of information is going to bore the audience further. Again, your materials need a clear focus, so don’t cram your company’s entire life story into your ad. Sufficient margins and whitespace give readers room to breathe while allowing headlines and other information to be easily identifiable.

4. The copy is sloppy

There is a lot to mention in this section. Some of it may seem nitpicky, but it all really does help readability and make for a more professional looking piece.

Lack of space between lines of copy makes it difficult to read from one line to the next. If they’re too close, then readers might read a line, then go on to the next line only to find themselves reading the same line over again. That gets frustrating.

Widows and orphans are terms referring to short lines of type that look awkward. One example is where the last word of a paragraph is by itself on the last line. Another example is where the last line of a paragraph is by itself on the next page or column. Similarly, the last example is where the first line of a paragraph is by itself at the bottom of its previous page or column. Fine-tune the body copy to repair these issues.

Paragraph justification should be adjusted. Left justified paragraphs will have a jagged right side, so use (but don’t over use) hyphenation to help reduce the drastic difference between line lengths. Force justified paragraphs, where all the lines are equal in length, may end up having awkward spacing between words—sometimes the gaps are too big, sometimes the words are too crammed. Tasteful hyphenation will solve some of the problems.

Fonts bring another set of issues. Steer clear of the most commonly used fonts. They’re not unique enough to represent you. Choose an easily readable font. You don’t want to slow down readers because the body copy is too wacky or scripty. Don’t use more than a couple different fonts on your layouts. Choose one for the headlines, a different one for the body copy and maybe one more for any special areas that need to stand out somehow. Make sure all of those fonts don’t clash together. Avoid too much reversed type where a light colored font is on a dark colored background. This gets difficult to read especially with a lot of copy. Save it for smaller areas like captions. Don’t ever reverse fonts that aren’t bold enough. Don’t over use areas of all caps. Entire paragraphs of capital letters are difficult to read. Don’t stretch or squish type. There are plenty of fonts to choose from, so if you want a wide font, choose one that is already wide. Stretching fonts yourself distorts the letters. Don’t outline type in clashing colors or large areas of copy in any color.

5. Not enough contrast between the type and the background

Black type on a white background is always the easiest to read since it provides the most contrast. If you add a color behind the black type, make sure it’s light enough. If the type is a lighter color, make sure the background is dark enough. If the type and background are too similar in shades, legibility is sacrificed.

Be careful when overlaying text on photos. If it’s a caption, make sure that it’s strategically placed in one of the corners to provide the best contrast without covering important elements of the photo. Don’t use screened photos (lightened photos) as backgrounds behind type. It looks bad, the type is harder to read and photos should be treated with more importance anyway.

6. There is a lack of imagery

People like to look at pictures. They say a lot more than words. All forms of advertising and design should have a dominant photo or illustration which will be the first thing to attract the reader’s eyes.

7. No knowledge of photo resolution

Many clients tell me to use photos off of their websites for their printed ads because they’re unfamiliar with the drastic difference between the two resolutions. Web graphics are based on your computer screen, so they are set at 72 dpi (dots per inch). Printed graphics are produced with much more photo-like clarity, so they are typically set at 300 dpi or higher. That means a 4” x 4” photo on the web would convert to 1” x 1” in print. If the web graphic is printed at its original size, then it’ll appear fuzzy since you’d be able to see the individual dots that make up the image.

8. The design is heavy on text effects / Photoshop filters

This is a great way to look amateur. When someone first experiments with Photoshop or similar programs, they apply all the effects like drop shadows and bevel/embosses or the filters that make their work look watercolored or plasticy. These “out-of-the-box” tools need to be handled with care. Beginners don’t know any better, so they apply them in thick coats with results that look like an overworked project from junior high.

9. There is no color scheme

Let’s say your living room, dining room, kitchen and a hallway all share common walls that needed painting. Would it look very exciting if you painted all the walls the exact same color? Not exactly. It may be appropriate in some cases, but painting different rooms in different colors would add more interest. On the other hand, painting every single wall a completely different color would be inconsistent. Choose a set of colors that make sense for your message and use them tastefully. One color should be dominant on the page and the rest should be used for accents.

10. You forgot to proofread

Triple-check everything twice. Read through all your information before you supply it to your designer and read through it all when your designer supplies you with drafts. Have someone else read through it as well to make sure nothing was missed. Mistakes happen, but if everyone is doing their job triple-checking, then that possibility decreases.

Like all rules, some can be stretched or broken if done for a very good reason, however, many of the rules above are pretty strict! You want your audience to walk away from your advertisements and flyers with curiosity, fulfilled knowledge and especially the desire to purchase your products, so don’t represent your company as an unprofessional amateur.

Related posts:

1. Common Graphic Design Mistakes – Logos
2. Solutions Looking for Products for its Christmas Catalog

Run a couple package design web searches and you’ll see this phrase repeatedly: “Packaging is just as important as the product.” It’s almost common sense, really. Some even go as far as saying, “The package is the product.” That may be bold, but nonetheless, packaging plays a tremendous role in selling your product—it’s the last chance (or maybe even the first chance) to advertise just before consumers make a purchase and studies have shown that most people make brand choices at the point of purchase. Spend the time researching packaging while thinking carefully about your audience and the stores you’ll be featured in and brand your product accordingly. Bring a designer into the picture early on and he/ she will help the package design solutions develop from the information and ideas that have gathered.

Branding is important. Companies brand themselves to configure their ideals, benefits, identity and develop their ad strategies from this characterization. Branding helps keep their image consistent, ensuring that their message won’t stray away. Products need to do the same. What are your product’s advantages? How is it different from the competition? What is its personality? You have to do more than inform customers. You must provoke emotions by branding your product with logos, advertising, press releases, etc., and, of course, the packaging. The following are basic steps that all designers must follow for successful packaging.

Research: You’ve researched plenty during the development of your product and you’ll continue to do so throughout the duration of its life. Assuming you’ve already studied the market and potential audience, you should now begin learning about packaging. Your designer is also an avid researcher, but it never hurts to figure out what attracts you and to bounce ideas off of each other. Go to different stores and look at packages. Focus within your product family and the stores you’d be featured in, but also look beyond. You never know where you may discover something useful. Search the Internet with Google web and image searches. Look through publications for packaging info and examples—magazines, books, online—both packaging sources and your product category’s industry publications. Find a handful of inspiring ideas and trends.

Structure/ Materials: A package’s shape and material play a big role in communicating to the customer. Take a stroll down the grocery aisles and notice all the competing brands within the same product category in all their different shapes, sizes and containers that create unique perceptions. Some products aim to be higher end, others affordable. Some are concerned with being all-natural, others would rather be a fun part of your day. A straight and narrow glass bottle will look more classy than a plump, plastic one. An uncoated cardboard box will look more environmentally savvy than a plastic wrapped container. How can your package’s structure and materials expand your brand?

Copy: Figure out what will be written on the package before you dig deep into the design. Space is limited, so be brief and figure out a hierarchy. Leave room for the brand name, the company name, a slogan (if desired), some quick, but important attributes/ benefits/ descriptions and any supplementary copy (instructions, storage info, warnings, etc.). Copy is another branding tool where you can be creative. If you want to be as clever and brilliant as possible, you may consider consulting a copywriter.

Graphic Design: Graphics compel the audience and quickly communicate significance. They can either be printed on the packaging materials or may appear on a label or tag of some sort. The basic design essentials are: color, typography, composition, logo use/ development, photo/ illustration use and the overall style/ concept of it all. This is another area where research is important. Setting up all the elements neat and orderly is a start, but it does nothing for your brand. Let’s say you have an exercise product that’s branded as a high-quality, high-energy, extremely efficient piece of equipment. Research those themes to inspire provocative imagery. What are some sources of energy that you could conceptualize around? How can you tweak it to connote quality and efficiency as well? With these rough concepts in mind, what fonts, colors and graphic elements could interplay in harmonizing your brand identity?

Remember to be practical. Of course you want to stand out, but your package can’t be too outlandish without the budget. Research pricing and be honest with manufacturers about your need for short runs where custom packaging would be too expensive. There are plenty of stock options that can be tailored to your needs, so spend more time thinking intelligently about branding with graphics. Besides, you’ll always continue to make improvements along the way, so this allows flexibility until your product’s growing demand provides you with a larger budget to spend on more drastic branding measures.

Do you think the package is the product? When it’s on the shelf introducing itself to shoppers, the answer is definitely yes. You want your products to fly off the shelves, so this is not the place to cut corners.

Related posts:

1. Give Your Business or Product a Makeover!
2. Creating Great Product Photos
3. Creating a Strong Market Presence

May is International Business Image Improvement Month.  Is your business or product’s image stale, tired or out-of-touch with your target customers?  Try a makeoever!

Makeovers have become a popular trend with people because they like the idea of reinventing themselves and the attention they gain from the experience. The same concept can also be applied to your company and/or products. You could rework your current logo into a more modern, professional symbol. You could update your brochures, promotional and marketing materials with a new look, focus or attitude. Or you could come up with a brand new, unique ad campaign to put yourself in a different light. There are many possibilities and any route is going to generate interest.

Corporations get makeovers all the time. This process is called rebranding. A brand is the overall experience and association with a company, its products and/or services—it’s the identity that makes the company stand out. The central point of most brands is the logo, which can sometimes even become the reason why people spend their money on certain products. Logos never stay the same over their lifespan. Companies need to progress with time and with their marketing focus. Here are a few examples.

logo evolutions

After the logo comes everything that it’s printed on. The rebranding flows into the look of the business collateral, the experience of the website, the feelings behind the packaging, the direction of the advertising and so on. 

Rebranding is prominent among corporations, but every company large and small has a brand experience that could be tweaked. Rebranding (and branding for that matter) can cost millions at the corporate level, but at a smaller scale, it doesn’t need to be so intense. Start with your logo(s). How long have you been using this logo? Could it use an update or does it make sense to keep it the way it is? Does it work as well as it could? Does it target every possible audience? Does it succeed locally, nationally or globally if needed? Your logo is your most important advertising piece and a new or updated version can really improve your image, amend the confidence with your current customers, create a new sense of interest with potential customers and ultimately generate more sales. 

If you update your logo you’ll also need to consider everything else that is used to promote and advertise your company, services and products, but if you decide that your logo is fine you should still ask the same questions to figure out if your collateral does the best possible job portraying you.

One key factor to remember during any rebranding is to keep your clients in mind throughout the procedure. Depending on the depth of the rebrand, a methodical approach should be used to refrain from alienating your existing customers. It never hurts to consult a branding specialist if your plan calls for radical restructuring, otherwise consult an advertising/design professional to help you revamp your materials.

Rebranding can be a useful process to re-identify and reposition yourself in any way that you see fit. It can be as detailed or as simple as you need or have the budget for. No company has a perfect brand experience, but periodic improvements will ensure greater success. It’s all necessary to stay fresh in the eyes of your customers and to gain the market share that you could be missing.

Josh Wallace is the graphic design associate at the One Stop Invention Shop.  To learn more about Josh, click here.  To see a list of his services, click here.

Related posts:

1. Is the Package the Product?
2. Creating Great Product Photos

Josh Wallace

We have been working with Josh Wallace for a few years already. Josh has never ceased to impress our clients and so when we started thinking of a graphic design associate, Josh was the first person to come to mind.

Josh even does all the graphic design work for us now too. He designed all of the great images for our new website and you can see much more of his work at his website: JoshWallace.com

Here are some of Josh’s many accomplishments:

• Graduate of the Art Institutes International in Minneapolis, MN.
• Attended state of the art advertising school, Brainco: Minneapolis School of Advertising, Design, & Interactive Studies.
• Recipient of the Merit Award for Art Direction and the Merit Award for Copywriting from the Advertising Federation of Minnesota.
• Illustrator for the critically acclaimed series, The Adventures of Papa Lemon’s Little Wanderers.
• Best of Show Award from the Art Institutes International Art Show.
• Design / Production Manager at Ambassador Communications Corp.
• Has worked with Don Debelak and a variety of inventors on flyers, brochures, instruction manuals, photography, product illustration, etc.

To visit Josh’s associate page, click here.

To find out more about all of the graphic design work he can do for you, click here.

Related posts:

1. Introducing Our Third Associate, T2 Design!
2. Introducing Edith G. Tolchin, our Second Associate!
3. Give Your Business or Product a Makeover!