Category: Graphic Design Fundamentals
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My Favorite Layout Trick for Clean, Balanced Design
Ever design something — a social post, flyer, landing page, or even a presentation slide — and feel like it’s technically “fine” but still doesn’t work? The content is solid. The colors are on brand. The type is clean.But it just… lacks focus. In my experience, the missing piece is almost always structure. Here’s the…
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The Basic Formula for Text Hierarchy
In design, text hierarchy is the key to guiding the viewer’s eye and ensuring clear communication. Whether designing for web, print, or digital media, an effective hierarchy creates a natural flow, helping readers prioritize information at a glance. By adjusting factors like size, weight, color, spacing, and alignment, you can emphasize the most important elements…
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Logo design 101
This post will cover the basics of logo design, how to use symbols, color, typography, and shapes to create a successful logo design. We will also dig into other important considerations when designing and using logos. What makes a logo work? Logos must symbolize an organization or business and it’s personality. It needs to convey…
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Dot/Line Exercise for Graphic Design beginners
Download the free dot/line exercise worksheet: https://tinyurl.com/dotlineexercise In the Dot/Line exercise, you will create a series of small compositions. Each composition will consist of only black dots and lines. Each of the graphic images you create will express a word. This will expand your personal expression, graphically speaking. It is important that you create several…
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7 step creative process for graphic designers
Design is solving a visual problem. This means you’ll benefit from research, design briefs and brainstorming. The creative process: Use this process on any creative project. These steps may or may not go in order every time. Now lets talk about each step. Step 1 – Project brief A project brief is a document that…
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Free downloadable graphic design resources
Download project brief template for graphic designers Download a prep for print checklist for Adobe InDesign Download a free Canva one-page brand guide template
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Generate creative ideas with a mind map
In this tutorial, we will create a mind map to generate ideas for a creative project. Mind mapping is a great way to capture thoughts and come up with associations. I like to start with words. There are no rules, create something that makes sense to you. Create a mind map To get started, grab…
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Find color codes in Photoshop
In today’s post, we will find CMYK, RGB, HEX (hexadecimal) code color values in Adobe Photoshop using a logo file. Identifying color values is an important part of graphic design and branding. For our example, we will use the Google logo: Here are the steps to finding color codes in an image: See an example…
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11 must-know design principles that will level up your design work
Design principles are a set of rules that designers can follow when creating a composition to create visually pleasing work. All the individual parts of a design must fit together to form a harmonious and cohesive unit. One design may use many design principles to be successful. Shape Shapes are 2D and Forms are 3D.…
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Typography for beginners
Typography is a crucial aspect of graphic design. It refers to the art and technique of arranging type to make them visually appealing and easily readable. Typography plays a significant role in conveying a message, setting a mood, and creating a memorable visual identity. In this article we will cover: Type terminology and rules for…