Spending a long time making amateur designs for publication materials may leave you with a slight chance of noticing some sort of stagnation in your design-making process.
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Look at Designs Made by Other People
Sometimes, all you need to get better at what you do is to pause doing it and look around. That fresh perspective may give you new ways to mix elements in a unique approach than what you usually do.
More established graphic designers also have different ways of looking at the design process.
Matt Ellis of 99designs explained that some professionals maintain a methodical way of designing, while others simply watch reruns of their favorite TV series and let inspiration hit them.
Whatever your design-making process is, you could benefit from positively comparing your work with them and learning what you could improve.
Remember, the keyword here is to “positively compare” your work– give yourself some credit.
Don’t Be Afraid To Think Outside the Box
After you’ve learned all the basics in design, you can now look for exceptions that may fit certain quirky concepts.
After all, fresh and innovative designs have their way of making viewers double-take or scroll back.
Designs that don’t fit existing templates or stereotypes bring freshness and, in turn, provide the branding that sense of originality and personality that could easily be attributed to it.
A great example would be Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim commercials.
The unique quirkiness of their video commercials with the subtle “AS” text that lets adults know what they’re watching has become iconic.
Consider Making Your Template
Canva templates are a godsend when you’re only starting your design journey, but they have a tendency to limit your ideas in the long run.
Making your template relieves you of this problem and makes you more independent of the elements that you’ll use or reposition.
Making your template also makes your designs more unique and characteristic of you as a graphic designer.
Once you’ve found your style of design, your branding will be easily recognized by your clients.
Research What You Design
Knowing more about your elements is essential in providing appropriate harmony within your design. Certain symbols and colors may work with each other depending on their historical or cultural significance.
For example, totem carving designs may look better with earth tones as it has been culturally attributed to nature and peace.
Pop culture references also have their way of bringing different fandoms into one community.
If your design concept permits it, having some of those can be beneficial to your overall brand development.
In contrast, this also lets you know which symbols not to use as they may contain inappropriate messages. An example of this would be the Nazi swastika on a red and black background.
Stay Knowledgeable of Current Events
Watching the news lets you know the current fads and fills you in on what’s in and what’s not. Riding with the trend won’t hurt your design and could even boost interactions simply by audience association.
However, trends are quick to spread, making designs related to them get old too quickly. This also lessens your design’s overall uniqueness and originality, making it less memorable.
Riding the trend should only be done if you’re quick enough to notice it before it gets overused.
Do Not Be Afraid to Make Mistakes– Learn From Them
As cliche as it may sound, learning from your design mistakes is a good form of learning. Critique, especially if done by a fresh set of eyes, wise mouth, and experienced mind, could become the greatest tip that you’ll ever hear.
This is because your mistakes, like your designs, are unique to you. In contrast with the generalized tips that you find on the internet, which are designed to cater to the general audience, corrected mistakes are more specific and personalized key points.
Moreover, learning from things that you experience instead of purely theorizing puts you on a better foothold.
Upgrade Your Workflow
Let’s now take a look into the non-designing part of designing. If you’ve already done the tips above and still want to do your designs better, you should now try assessing the outside factors that affect your overall productivity.
Start with your desk set up. Too much clutter may keep you from becoming inspired enough and distract you from your current thought process.
Try maintaining a clean desk with only the necessary implements present and see how you’ll feel the difference.
Also, consider putting a plant near your desk as studies say that they have numerous benefits ranging from stress reduction to productivity boosts.
Also, try considering your setup’s overall ergonomics. Investing in posture-saving furniture will make your older self thank you.
You may also want to upgrade your computer’s specifications. Outdated hardware may cause lags in your software, hampering your work and wasting precious moments that you could have spent making your designs look better.
In Conclusion
The fact that you looked for ways to become better in designing through Canva makes you a better designer already.
Chances are you already have foundations built even before reading this article.
Build upon what you’ve learned all this time, remember to keep an open mind and be teachable, and you’ll soon be producing the best graphic designs there are.
Feature photo by Ivan Samkov