5-minute guide to master basic designing

Just like you don't need to be a litterateur to write good English, you don't need a degree in designing to create a aesthetic design. If the job you're applying for is a great opportunity but requires you to create basic designs, then don't shy away from taking on the challenge.

Look at it this way. You will not only be taking on a job you love, but it's also a chance to hone your design skills, which will come in handy in the long run.

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Here's a five-minute crash course to help you better your design abilities.

Dark grey is better than jet black

When you want the text on your design to not be glaring use dark grey than a jet black shade for your text. This is because pure black on white has the ability to distract the eyes for a few moments and this makes the letters hard to focus on.

Contrast is key

The background and font colour should be in contrast to each other to avoid eyestrain. Typically, dark colours on a white background tends to be the most legible. Stay away from light colours and pastels if your background is white. If you want to use lighter colours, make sure the background is dark.

Focus on alignment

When your creative is finally ready and you feel like it looks great but something is still off, see if you can align your design elements better. The reason designers talk about using a 'grid' all the time is because they want to stay away from the issues of non-alignment. Fixing alignment is the easiest way to make any creative look 10 times better.

Highlight important content

Layout the primary content in such a way that it catches the user's eye immediately. Important content should be visible without scrolling and zooming. It is always better to place important content at the top right-hand-side of the creative, as that's where our eyes are trained to look first.

Use spacing for text

Remember, your design has about two-to-three seconds to capture the attention of the user. Make those moments count. Increase font size wherever possible to make your content easier to read and couple it with some liberal line spacing for better effect.

Add colour later

Start by creating your design in black and white first and add colour to it later. Doing this will help you maintain your focus on the basic design elements, without getting distracted by the need to get the colour palette right. Colour is known to evoke strong emotional responses and can interrupt our ability to focus on the core design problems.

You won't become a brilliant designer overnight. Designing takes practice and patience. Put to use the above mentioned tips to make anything you create better designed.