Top 5 Design Mistakes To AVOID

There are more then five common design errors – I am happy to have a chat and discuss these with you if you are interested, or direct you to some of my free resources that will help you only create beautiful aligned designs that deliver the desired results.

Design is about far more than just creating a pretty picture. It serves a purpose. Whether in the case of your logo, your website, an advertisement, a flyer, or a social media banner or post. . . BEFORE creating a design (or commissioning a graphic designer) it is important to be CLEAR on your message so make sure you can answer questions like:
Who do you want to appeal to?
How do you want them to feel when they see the design?
What is the ‘perceived value’ price point do you want them to think your offering should be?
What action do you want them to take when they see the design?
If you don’t think about these things first, you might end up with a design that looks great and is eye catching but is completely NOT RIGHT for your business. For example you could have a design that looks very structured and corporate when in fact you want to appeal to a spiritual or creative audience. You could end up with a design that looks like it is for a budget brand when in fact you want to position your offering as luxury and high end.

One of the worst things you can do is ask people ‘outside of your ideal customer group’ for feedback on whether they like your designs. For example, a common mistake is to ask for advice from family members or friends who may ‘tell you what they think you want to hear as they don’t want to upset you’ instead of pointing out things that could be improved upon, or on the opposite end of the scale there are those very opinionated family members who see things their own way and just want to influence what you are doing without any real perspective of what will work to attract your dream customers.
Often people will ask for feedback on their designs in vast online groups with a multitude of different opinions coming forth to confuse you even more. The thing is, if the people you are asking are not in the same mindset as your ideal customers, it really does not matter what they think. If you have a design aimed at spiritual women and get feedback from a group of men, most of them will probably say they don’t like the design. If you get feedback for that same design from a mixed group of women and only 50% of them like the design, it could just mean the other 50% do not have a spiritual mindset and therefore are not your ideal audience.
It is better to be clear on who you want to attract, study what works in that market and then put your own unique twist on things, using the right colours, images, fonts and styles to appeal to your ideal customers.

Having designs that are difficult to read is a bad idea, especially if your visuals may be seen small online, on a mobile phone screen for example. Think carefully about your font choices. Script fonts and embellished fonts can be beautiful but make sure it is still clear what the words actually say. Script fonts can be even more illegible when small.
Another very important thing to consider with text, in print or online, is colour. Even when you have chosen a simple font, if you have a very text heavy area with white or light text on black or coloured backgrounds it can be difficult to read for some people. Dyslexics also struggle with certain coloured text and backgrounds. Using light coloured text on a white background is t be avoided too. You want your words to be as easy to read as possible.

MISTAKE 4 : QUALITY OF VISUALS.

Whether for printed material or online designs, make sure you choose the right size photographs or graphics for the use. For example printed visuals should be at least 300 dpi at actual size and online images should be 72dpi. It is also important for online images to ensure you are using the correct dimensions when you create and save your visual. Some website templates, and social media platforms will distort, stretch or partially cut off images if you do not upload the correct size. Printed images can look blurry, pixillated and unprofessional if you are not using a visual that is high enough resolution for print.

MISTAKE 5 : Colour Matters.

Even more so than choosing the right icons, shapes, backgrounds and styles for your design (which are all still important aspects or creativity), is selecting the right colour palette.
Colour psychology is powerful and you could put the same icon in different colours and it can feel very different and appeal to different audiences. Colurs are very emotive and can effect how we perceive something long before we focus in on the detail of a shape or words.
For example, if you want t portray a calm gentle meditation, avoid bright vibrant or flat dark colours. If you want to portray something strong, powerful and results driven, then avoid soft, pastel shades and watercolours. Choosing your colours carefully to evoke the right vibe for your offering is imperative.