The deadly sins of graphic design
Bad design choices can come back to haunt you, ruining first impressions and making your brand look like it was created in Microsoft Paint circa 2003. While creativity in design is fantastic, some faux pas are best avoided.
Let’s have a little fun and expose the worst offenders! Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just dabbling in Canva, here are common design mistakes to dodge and keep your work polished and professional.
Inconsistent Branding
Your brand should be instantly recognisable, not a guessing game. A cohesive look and feel across all platforms—logos, fonts, colours, tone of voice—are crucial. If your Instagram is a funky, retro colour explosion but your website screams corporate monotony, you’ve got a problem.
How to avoid it: Brand consistency builds trust. Keep your brand guidelines handy to ensure your brand’s presentation is always spot-on.
The average person sees about 10,000 ads per day. Brand consistency builds customer loyalty and can increase revenue up to 20%.
Source: Adobe.com
Inflexible Logos
One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to logos. Leading brands create multiple versions of their logos for versatility. Equally important is knowing which colour modes and file types to use for different platforms. A RGB logo on a brochure = costly mistake!
How to avoid it: Consider where your logos will be used. Horizontal logos are ideal for website headers, while stacked logos suit social media profiles. Also consider creating alternative colour options to suit light and dark backgrounds.
Lack of hierarchy
Hierarchy is your best friend (after chocolate maybe!). Hierarchy guides the viewer’s eye, showing what’s most important, avoiding the jumbled mess.
How to avoid it: Be strategic with font sizes, weights, colours, and content placement. Lead the viewer’s eye from most important to least.
Using too many fonts
Mixing too many fonts is like mixing drinks, both lead to headaches.
How to avoid it: Stick to a maximum of three fonts, one for headings, one for paragraphs, and maybe one special font for accents.
Font type can impact reading comprehension by up to 10%. And The font type can influence how readers perceive the message, impacting credibility and professionalism.
Source: linearity.io
Wrong font choice
Your font needs to match your message. Comic Sans at a corporate gig? No thanks. Beware font pairings that clash too.
How to avoid it: Not sure what your fonts say about you? Ask friends for feedback, or your friendly neighbourhood designer!
Improper Kerning and/or tracking
Spacing matters. Too little space between characters makes text hard to read, too much looks awkward.
How to avoid it: Check your kerning (character spacing) and tracking (line spacing).
Lack of white space
Not every empty space on a page demands something to fill it.
How to avoid it: Embrace white space, it enhances visual hierarchy and balances your content, ensuring a clean and effective design.
Too much information
Trying to cram your entire story into each design results in a chaotic mess.
How to avoid it: Think of your marketing assets as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Individually, your website, brochures, and social media posts might not capture everything, but together they create the complete narrative.
Using all the colours of the rainbow
Your brand doesn’t need every colour. Colours also have meaning, reds create energy so a good fit for a gym but not a meditation study.
How to avoid it: Research colour meanings and pick a thoughtful colour palette that compliments your brand.
Blue is considered the most popular colour worldwide.
Source: yougov.com
Not prioritising readability
Low contrast, tiny text, and fancy scripts that need deciphering? No thanks.
How to avoid it: Do a test print or check multiple screens to check readability.
Bad image quality
Blurry and pixelated images make designers cry! There’s no magic Photoshop filter that fixes low-quality images.
How to avoid it: Always start with high resolution images. You need 300 DPI for print and 72DPI for web.
Overcropping images
No one wants their head or limbs randomly chopped off. And you don’t want text all over someone's face.
How to avoid it: When photographing, leave extra space around your subject. This gives flexibility when cropping for different layouts.
Misalignment
Misaligned elements are an instant turn-off.
How to avoid it: Stick to the same alignment and use guides, grids, and margins to keep everything neat and tidy.
Overusing centred text
Centre alignment suits short headlines, not long text blocks.
How to avoid it: Stick to left aligned text unless you’re keeping it short and sweet.
Misusing icons
Icons are great communicators, but only if they enhance, not clutter.
How to avoid it: Be strategic when using icons, and keep them consistent with your brand.
Not enough contrast
Reading light grey text on white? Painful. Contrast is essential, especially for accessibility.
How to avoid it: Print in black and white, on any old printer, if the elements blend together add more contrast.
Websites with solid contrast ratios show a 32% improvement in user engagement.
Source: linearity.io
Incorrect file formats
Do you know your file types? No? Read this article.
How to avoid it: Match your file type to the project.
Using the wrong colour mode
Mixing RGB (screens) and CMYK (print) lead to colour catastrophes!
How to avoid it: Know your project requirements. Some platforms will automatically convert RGB to CMYK for print, but it might cause some colour changes.
Neglecting print requirements
Bleed, trim, and safe areas aren’t just fancy terms, they prevent costly print mistakes.
How to avoid it: Depending on your software you can add safe area guides. Try turning on margins to see the safe area in a document.
Bad file names
We’ve all done it, but ‘Final_Final_V5_Update_REALLYFINAL.pdf’ isn’t helping anyone.
How to avoid it: Adopt a logical naming system, like [ProjectName-Size-Plaform-Date] (e.g. [Social-1080x1080-Facebook-Sept24])
Skipping the test print
Design looks great on screen? Must be ready for print then, right?
How to avoid it: Always do a test print, even if it’s only on your home/office computer.
73% of consumers prefer print ads over digital due to fewer distractions
Source: Forbes
Not proofreading
How often have you judged someone for a typo? Typos kill credibility.
How to avoid it: Don’t just trust spell check. A careful read or second set of eyes is a good idea.
Want avoid all these common design mistakes?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember, professional designers (like me!) are here to help.
If you’re interested in working with me reach out today at hello@elisemaunder.com.au
