The Secret to a great design layout predominantly lies in the process one follows in creating it. Here are ten tips to spruce up your next design masterpiece.
- Context is king
First and foremost, read the brief. Understand the ecosystem in which communication should work. Ask a lot of probing questions – about the client, the purpose of this communication, the message to be delivered, and the target audience, so that you can appeal to the design sensibilities of the audience. - Plan, plan, plan
Planning the layout is half the design done. Set hierarchy, prioritize information, group appropriately. Break it into simple and easily digestible bite-sized chunks. Strategize the information flow. - Grid first approach
The grid is the foundation of any good layout. Start your design by putting down a few ground rules. Choose the right medium to reach the target, and accordingly, the color space, resolution, size, margins, column widths, gutter spaces, font sizes, etc. - Go slow on the typeface
“Too many fonts spoil the look.” Seasoned professionals seldom use more than 2 font families in a given layout. Pick two contrasting font families with many weights/variations and use them to complement each other. Pick the right font for the occasion. - Desist force justification
Force justification inserts uneven spaces between characters in paragraphs – messing up the look, and contributing to irregular reading speed. Instead, opt to ‘track’ paragraphs. Tracking distributes spaces evenly between each character in a line. Tracking is a sluggish process. If you do not have the patience then go for left justification. Do not worry too much about the jagged edges. It will work fine if you adjust the overhanging words with forced line-breaks. - Maintain consistency but break the monotony
Yes, this is contradictory. Every design needs this in a measured proportion. Make some predefined rules and stick to them. Make it predictable. Follow a structure. Let the target see what he expects to see. Put him/her in the comfort zone. Maintain consistency in the usage of type, type sizes, leading, etc. But break the rule once in a layout and not half-heartedly. Make it obvious. Let there be no ambiguity about that. Add a daring dash of color, or let one element jump out of the grid. Let only one thing shout for attention while others conform to the rules. - Design is the details
Design is not a singular thing that you do to a layout but it is the small, small flourishes and nuances you add to it. Find appropriate places to add such elements. They could be in the form of illustrations, icons, bullets, schema, pullouts, connecting lines, typographical composition, etc. - Maintain clarity
Appreciate the fact that the purpose of graphic art is to carry the message. Let not design overpower the content and make it ambiguous or difficult for the audience to decipher. Let design be the background, messaging – the foreground, and clarity, paramount. - Avoid visual distractions
The beauty of the layout is in the consistency of the reading speed. Avoid the following distractions from the layout. 1. Rivers – continuous white spaces formed by the gaps between words that flow vertically down the column. 2. Widows – the last line in a paragraph that hangs alone in the subsequent column. 3.Orphans – single words hanging at the end of the following column. Negate them all by tracking. - Proof check – again and again.
Most designers lack the patience to do a proof check before sharing their pièce de résistance with the client. Hold off. Run multiple checks for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and consistency. Read and re-read. Do a fact check. Most importantly, make sure the call to action points are alive. The most obvious things are the ones that will go unnoticed. Double-check the size, color space, and resolution before releasing the artwork.
These are the steps I follow when I design layouts and it has consistently helped me in the last 20 years. Maybe it will work for you too. Let me know.