Designs Screaming Amateur

THE PERFECT GIFT FOR ANY ENTREPRENEUR!

Now available in paperback and on Kindle!

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!”:

  1. Too much white space on the page

  2. Too little white space on the page

  3. Inconsistent use of columns within a document

  4. Long lines of small type and short lines of large type

  5. Awkward word spacing

  6. Using default line spacing for headlines

  7. Puny headlines

  8. Using two spaces at the end of a sentence

  9. Starting columns of text at different distances from the top of the page

  10. “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

  11. Rivers of white space that flow through the text

  12. Graphic accent overkill (too many boxes, rules and screens)

  13. Excessive use of underlining

  14. Captions with long lines in small type

  15. Inappropriate hyphenation

  16. Headlines and subheads appearing on the same baseline in adjoining columns

  17. Text and background running together without contrast

  18. Using charts and graphics that provide confusing information

  19. Heads and subheads set at the bottom of a column

  20. 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.