It’s been a long time since we shared graphic design tips drawn from personal experience! We thought it’s right about time. Keep on reading if you want to improve your work process, and retain that brain cells undamaged.
Follow these graphic design tips
- You can be technically right, but what is the point if your client doesn’t like it?
We always advise designers to offers their guidance to their clients: describe what’s the best solution, and what is simply plain wrong. However, listening to your client can also take you a long way. If the design solution they are rooting for won’t affect your design portfolio in a bad way, why don’t you try expanding your horizons and try to work with it? If the client’s happy with the result and the design itself is in no way less functional, well, that’s what we’re doing here.
- Put just as much effort into presenting your designs, as you did into designing them.
Sending your files attached to the email is lazy and unprofessional. Boom, we said it. In order for the client to fall in love with the design you made, they need to know the story and reasoning behind it. That’s why it’s important to work on the presentation – it can determine the success of your cooperation.
We understand that no one wants to spend additional hours on presentations – but you can use Gingersauce for that! Upload your designs to the system, choose one of the professionally created templates, and the system will automatically put everything in the right places. As the outcome, you have a brand book – as a means of presentation – that you can share and even sell to your client. Wanna try?
- Clients don’t always know better.
This is exactly why we advise you to talk to your clients and share your thought. If the clients come for a logo, ask them if they think this will turn their company into a brand. Then, offer them a brand identity and describe how it works. Believe us when we say that many of your clients will be thankful for your help. And, you will establish yourself as a professional.
- Design is about finding a solution, not just drawing pretty pictures.
This one, out of all graphic design tips we are sharing today, is mostly given to beginner designers. Some of them, having just started their design careers focus too much on making their designs beautiful, rather than working. Design is always about a solution. While working on the visual, always stop to ask yourself if it’ll affect people the way it should? Will the colors evoke the needed emotions? Do those shapes have the needed associations?
- Question everything.
One of the most effective ways to grow is to be skeptical and to question everything you do. Question the trends that emerge – ‘Will it work for this kind of design?’. Question the advice you receive, do your own research. Improve your analytical thinking to make sure the solution you present will be a working one.
- Use references, it’s legal.
Many designers think that using references is a bad idea. A true designer (whatever that means) must have a huge imagination capacity, and take everything from the top of their head. Well, in fact, it’s simply not possible. Referencing can be helpful to learn your shapes, and find out what things really look like. Using a reference will always help you to save time, and do a better, more precise job. Now, note, we’re not talking about copying someone’s work, that’s a very different thing. But there is nothing wrong with using a reference.
- You can pick your clients too.
Believe us, your mental stability is important. If you see from the get-go that your cooperation will be extremely stressful, see if you have the option to decline. Clients will come and go, but the burn-out is real and is not that easy to cure.
- Ask yourself: “Is there a way to do this differently?”
When you already have your solution laid out, see if you can other angles to approach it. If it’s needed leave the work for a few hours, and they come back to the brief with a fresh mind. Keep your mind open to all the ideas, and write them all down. Sketch them to visualize better. Maybe you will come up with something that is better than your first instinct.
- Dive into one sphere.
It’s good to be proficient in multiple spheres. But, we would recommend picking one and focusing on it to the most of your abilities. Let’s say brand design. Don’t scatter your attention too much, and get professional in that specific area. Then, when you think, you’re there – it’s time to move on to something new, and experiment.
- Using tools won’t make you any less professional.
Graphic design tools are somewhat of a taboo today. Designers think that their only goal is to steal their jobs. In reality, there are plenty of instruments designed specifically to help them. The mentioned Gingersauce, for example. We designed out tool for creating brand books to help designers spend less time on brand books, and presentations. Everything in the app was created by other professional designers, with regards to the current trends and market standards. Our goal is to help creatives spend more time on the designing itself, taking on the technical tasks.
There are plenty of tools you can use to make your workflow better. Try to hand out as much work, as you can – you need that head of yours to be clear of mundane tasks, and hours of pixel pushing.
Read also 8 Tips on How to Boost Your Creative Confidence For Graphic Designers
Manage your workflow better, with Gingersauce
Gingersauce is a professional tool for creating brand books allowing you to cut off the technicalities, and focus on the creative part of being a designer. Use it to create brand books, a powerful presentation for your visual, or even a guiding tool to learn about the brand identity creation steps. It’s up to you!
