Designs Screaming Amateur
THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ANY ENTREPRENEUR!
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In a growing competitive environment, high quality graphic design is critical to ensuring your marketing materials stand out from the crowd.
From a memorable logo to corporate identity, graphic design is crucial for promoting your business in both physical and virtual marketing.
The importance of good graphic design is often underestimated. Lots of folks figure they can design their own sales materials on Canva to avoid paying someone else.
However, the reality is most of them don’t know what they’re doing. They get it wrong, then lose potential customers without even knowing why.
Want to communicate effectively and stand out from your competition? You need the services of a professional graphic designer.
Last week we discussed how high quality, impactful collateral complements your online communications tactics. We examined a holistic approach, where every tool must be an option.
And I strongly suggested leaving graphics design to the professionals so that everyone can focus on what they do best.
Yet for those who still insist on doing it themselves, here are 20 design blunders that scream “Amateur!”:
Too much white space on the page
Too little white space on the page
Inconsistent use of columns within a document
Long lines of small type and short lines of large type
Awkward word spacing
Using default line spacing for headlines
Puny headlines
Using two spaces at the end of a sentence
Starting columns of text at different distances from the top of the page
“Drifting” initial caps that appear to be unintentional, instead of keeping the initial cap’s baseline even with the baseline of the rest of the text
Rivers of white space that flow through the text
Graphic accent overkill (too many boxes, rules and screens)
Excessive use of underlining
Captions with long lines in small type
Inappropriate hyphenation
Headlines and subheads appearing on the same baseline in adjoining columns
Text and background running together without contrast
Using charts and graphics that provide confusing information
Heads and subheads set at the bottom of a column
Mixing too many typefaces
Oh yes: Did I mention that design and copy needs vary depending on the medium? Even if you can design a website doesn’t mean you can work in print … or vice versa.
Bottom line: Do yourself a favor and hire a professional.
With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.
Get more professional advice at www.marketbuilding.com.