Beautiful design – it is not a child’s play, neither is it related to inspiration nor a great idea; the truth is that creating beautiful design is all the fundamentals of the subject ‘design’.
And while studying the design field is all good, if you plan to be a designer – no matter in what field – but what if you want to be successful? Of course, if you are a designer, then, you would want to be successful, but do you know that there are a few elements or rather commandments that every designer should know before the start of any project.
Of these commandments, even the bloggers and fellow beginners – they too can make use of the following rules to create beautiful and professional-looking pieces.
Commandment one – Line
The ‘line’ is the very first commandment of the subject ‘design’ – in short, a ‘line’ is simply a stroke of a pencil, but in the field of graphic design, a ‘line’ means two connected points; they often come in handy for diving space and drawing the human eye to a particular location.
Commandment two – Color
Of course, it goes without saying that ‘color’ is one of the most obvious and important aspects of design for both the designer and the user.
When it comes to design, it can either stand alone as a simple background or be applied to other elements such as lines, shapes, typography, textures, to name a few. After all, it is ‘color’ which can create a mood within a particular design piece, and tell its story.
Each color out there – all of them are different, and combine them together, you will come upon a different impression.
Commandment three – Shape
Want to add interest or an element of mystique to a design piece?
Add shapes – defined by boundaries or rather a line or lines of color, ‘shapes’ are often used to emphasize a page’s portion. In the end, everything you see, they are all defined by shapes, so, if you are looking to create a design piece – you must always take into consideration how the various elements come together to form a shape and how they interact with each other.
Commandment four – Space
Perhaps one of the most overlooked and misunderstood elements of design is ‘negative space’.
When designing for a space, if you are looking to include ‘negative space’, then, you must know how to keep certain parts of the page blank – no matter what color it is – and this, in turn, will help to create an overall image.
Just so, if you are wondering – you can even use negative spaces to create shapes, just like any other element.
Commandment five – Texture
If your design piece is not going to be touched, why include texture? – and that’s what you must be thinking.
No, that’s not how it is supposed to be – even if your design piece is simply going to remain on the screen, that doesn’t mean that you can’t or rather won’t add texture to them.
Consider adding textures to your design pieces – they will give a three-dimensional look to your design pieces.
Commandment six – Typography
Typography – without it, there is no graphic and web design.
One of the most important aspects of graphic and web design, typography is just like color, textures, and shapes – use a serious font, and it will the readers that you are an online news magazine, use a playful font, and it will tell the readers that you are running a food blog, a vintage font for a tea shop, and so on.
Remember that words are important, and the styling of the words is also equally important.
Commandment seven – Scale aka ‘Size’
Want to add interest and emphasis to your design projects?
Take note of the scale and size of the shapes, objects, and any other elements that you have used in your design projects –and if possible, consider playing with them to get to the right one.
Just imagine for a minute – how boring would your design piece turn out to be if they consist of all same-sized elements? If possible, try to incorporate a bit of variation to the design content – of course, you should also keep in mind that no matter what size your design content is – the subtle ones suits the professional ones, and the bold and the quirky ones, they are best suited for creative enterprises and studios.
Commandment eight – Dominance and Emphasis
If you plan to emphasize something in the design world, you should do well to remember that the element of emphasis will focus on an object, color or even style, that dominates another element, and which in turn leads to a heightened sense of contrast, thus creating a focal point.
Commandment nine – Balance
Creating a design piece – it’s about having symmetry, then again, there are many designers out there who prefer their piece to be asymmetrical. No matter what it is, it’s all about the choice of the designers.
After all, symmetry and asymmetry – both go hand in hand.
Commandment ten – Harmony
Do you know what is the main goal of graphic design – it’s to have harmony, and that’s what the author of the book ‘Elements of Graphic Design’, Alex White has mentioned.
It is only when all the pieces of a design project work together, that harmony comes in being. In a design piece, there should be nothing that should look superfluous. When designing a project, know this that there is not a great design that is enough and it is never too much, though you should make sure that all the details in a design project are in accord with one another, before you decide to turn in your project.
When it comes to graphic design, there are many more rules that need to be followed, but the above-mentioned ones – they are the first and foremost that is given focus to; keep them in mind when creating a design piece, and whatever you create – they will turn out to be appealing and perfect with a professional look.