Graphic Designer Hints & Tips (1-50)
- Never fear the white (empty) space.
- There is no such thing as creative block only fear
& frustration in disguise. - When a client say’s the brief is ‘open’ it rarely is.
- There are no rules to design only personal gut instinct.
Following rules prevents progression. - Designers are the only other force in the universe aside from black holes that can distort space-time (some clients think).
- You cant teach someone to have talent but you might be able
to open their eyes a little. - Never send your design CV out as a word document in times new roman thats akin to playing Beethoven on a kazoo.
- Never ever give a quote on the spot (not even ballpark).
Take at least a day to figure it out properly. - If you dont fully believe in your work NO ONE else will!
- A great font choice can always turn the bland into the grand.
Always go experi-mental as it can totally flip a piece. - Whatever the project always start with a pen and pad.
Not a mouse! - DONT follow trends, your work will not stand out and will date quickly (although sometimes its unconsciously unavoidable).
- Any networking is good networking.
- Never leave it at just an email. People dont mind pestering
AT ALL. Pestering is passion. - Never discourage odd or abstract initial ideas as they usually blossom. Embrace stream of conciousness.
- Be yourself not your peers.
- You are only as strong as your portfolio not your grade.
- work hard play harder.
- Follow your heart and not your head. Emotive not emancipated. Passionate not preconcieved.
- There is no such thing as good or bad work artistically,
just peoples opinions (often biased through exposure). - Opportunities.. grab them!… or even better create
them then grab them. - Garlic will not subdue the time vampires.
Be prepped for a lorra late nights. - Vectors are upscalable, bitmaps are not. Vectors are made
of maths, bitmaps pixels. Remember that! - Teaching others will help you learn.
- Start any new doc at 300 dpi, even online jobs as you never know when you gotta print that tinker out.
- Use sign off proofing stages with clients otherwise you will be doing a merry samba back and forth for all time.
- Too many cooks want too many broths. Designate a client project contact so they act as a filter of feedback not you!
- If someone tell’s you work is bad it doesn’t mean it is. If your work pleases everyone your doing something very wrong
- Aim high score highish, aim low score no
- A brand is not just a logo, a brand is people, perception,
reputation and more. - Always, always, always carry your business cards with you.
- Public health warning… photoshop filters are bad for
your wealth. - Magic wand is the poor mans pen tool. Learn pen tool or be laughed at in the street by strangers.
- Always pen tool a few pixels in from where you think
to avoid background bleed. - For best results if an image looks like it has <256 colours (ie monotone) make it a GIF, more than that a jpeg/png.
- To avoid gamut muck up try to always start in CMYK.
- #photoshop, press ‘f’ then ‘f’ again. This allows you to concentrate on the work at hand and remove ‘faff’ and ‘faff’.
- #photoshop, never flatten any layers til the final piece.
Constructive destructive. - EVERYONE can draw.
- Beware a nasty case of feature creep. The only known
antidote is a contract. - White space is not uncolourful but the very
definition of colourful. - The meaning of life… would probably be found in sketch
books not hard drives. - Save all your notes/ doodle/sketches/prep like a rabid binman.
Never discard! - Build/design a website like you’d make love to. Passionately,
then clean up afterwards. - For true feedback never ask friends or family.
- Always try to carry a notepad for those impromptu ideas.
Failing leave yourself a schizophrenic voicemail. - Try to always push out of your stylistic comfort zone.
Otherwise you’ll end up more typecast than Hugh Grant. - If the paper stays blank… draw a line anyway.
- The customer is ‘sometimes’ right… no, really.
- All the design tips in the world can’t beat plain old experience.
