Quick Reference Design Guide

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Cathleen Clare Armstrong
5 years ago
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1 Presentation is everything. At one time or another, you have probably heard the phrase a book is judged by its cover. That s still true and probably even more so today because we live in a very distracted, fast-paced society. Regardless of what you are producing, whether it is a special report or Kindle book cover, a one-sheet for your speech or a book, a flyer to invite local networking members to an event, or a direct mail piece to send to a potential meeting planner or client, you only get one chance at that first impression. You don t want to blow it because you made some basic mistakes. That would be a shame because then your important, powerful message wouldn t get in front of the people who need it most. What Your Design Is Screaming Without Saying a Word Something you ll want to ask about any marketing piece you produce for your business, What does your piece SAY about your message, your brand, and your reputation? When people look at your marketing piece and start going through the content, what is your piece communicating? It s not just about the written word. It s about the whole package. Now, the big question is: Are you communicating success or failure? The quickest way to communicate a big fat FAIL with your marketing, other than just having a poor overall design, really comes down to three things: 1. Formatting and Consistency: First make sure your formatting is consistent throughout your marketing piece. A few things to pay attention to include: having headings and subheadings in the same colors and fonts throughout;

2 tabbing in at the beginning of each paragraph or not; and whether you re using left, center, right, or full justification for headings, subheadings, and body text. 2. Spelling and Punctuation: This may seem obvious, but spell check only goes so far. The grammar Nazis of the world will be after you if you dare mix up they re, there, and their, for instance. Consider having several people proofread your finished piece because after you ve looked at something so many times, you become blind to any errors. Note: I m infamous for typos and I don t know that it s possible to get everything 100% right 100% of the time. But it s a good goal! And yes, I m fully aware there very well could be mistakes in this very report. It doesn t make the information any less helpful or valuable. Yet if you re trying to stand out from the crowd and all things are equal except that one typo, guess who wins? 3. Organization and Flow: Next, you have to consider the organization and flow in your piece. You don t want to jump all over the place like a bunny running from a puppy in the yard; there should be a natural flow to your writing style and what appears in your piece. Basic Elements Of Good Design Simple and clean design A simple and clean design wins every time. This is no different when it comes to most other types of design. Just think about it for a second, if you go to some of the top websites like YouTube, Google, and Amazon, the sites are all very clean with lots of white space. Your marketing piece should basically work the same way. It s okay to have design elements and all of that, but you want to make it very easy and appealing to the eye. Professional images The majority of many designers time goes into choosing just the right image to convey the exact message they want with that piece. Often it s the image that makes or breaks your design. So, spend some time and even some money making sure any images you use are right. You don t have to invest a lot. You can go to istockphoto.com, pick a really professional-looking photograph for a few dollars, and use that in your design.

3 If you are using a photograph of yourself, the selfie you took with your smartphone isn t going to cut it. Paying a professional for one clean, high resolution head shot will pay in dividends later. This isn t social media; it has to be good. Otherwise you communicate one message: amateur. No more than 3 Fonts From a design perspective, you should never use more than three font styles on any one marketing piece. It s okay to have part of it bold and part of it in italics. However, you don t want to have your headline in Helvetica, and your name in Times New Roman, and the body in something else, and your bio in something else and on and on. If you use too many fonts it looks like a cheap hooker going out on a date. That s not what you want your marketing piece to communicate. You want it to reflect the story of your message, so there has to be some cohesiveness to the image versus the title versus the content. You want all of these elements to play together well. Color schemes Color schemes are extremely important as well. One thing that you have to understand, if you don t already, is that colors communicate. For example, if you have a speech about anger management the color red would be an excellent choice to represent that emotion. Even within your basic programs themselves, Microsoft Word and PowerPoint have many design features built into them. Use those to determine color families. You can also get free help online at websites like ColorSchemeDesigner.com or use the color matching tool tab at ColorExplorer.com. These sites will help you choose complimentary colors for your design. So, if you think that red is the right color for part of your design you can go to online and see what colors would complement the shade of red you re using. This point should be reiterated once more. Colors matter when you are trying to communicate something. You re not going to have a piece talking about anger management and then make your dominant color baby blue. That would be like having a book on gardening and having it colored gray. It just wouldn t make sense. The reader s eye needs to follow a logical path It s not a conscious thing, but when we look at a marketing piece our eye needs to know where to land. So, whenever a person sees a printed or digital marketing piece with competing elements, it s more complicated than it should be so they stop reading. It s a reaction that happens subconsciously.

4 To help guide your readers eye to what you want them to see, choose what is important and enforce that visually. Use graphic elements and copy strategies like: Frequent headings Short paragraphs Conversational text Bulleted lists (see what I did here? ) Bold highlights Next create a logical path for the eye to follow: There are three easy patterns to use for your designs as shown above. The first looks like a Z. This pattern works well in Western culture because we typically read from left to right. So, with this design pattern you would use design elements to lead the reader s eye from the top-left to the top-right, then downward and across to the bottom-left corner, and then back to the right again. The next design pattern is in a V shape. When you follow this design pattern, everything at the top is larger and all of the elements direct the eye downward. Then the last is called the Golden Spiral. When you use this design, the eye is drawn initially to the area to the upper left and your eye naturally follows the flow as the spiral moves outward and to the lower left-hand corner. Then, often times there will be a name or a title that directs the reader s eye back to the right. So, this pattern works similarly to the Z pattern.

5 The Bottom Line Far from being a definitive guide on all things design, this is a quick reference for non-design professionals when trying to create flyers, brochures, and other materials that look attractive and professional, without having to hire a professional. Keep your designs simple and clean. Always use professional, stock images and head shots! istockphoto.com Dreamstime.com Never use more than 3 fonts! Use easy-to-read fonts like Helvetica or Garamond for smaller copy. Use script fonts VERY sparingly if at all. Color schemes are vitally important in your design. Colorschemedesigner.com ColorExplorer.com The reader s eye should follow a logical path. Remember the Z, V, and Golden Spiral. Special Thanks: This report was compiled in large part from transcripts and information provided by Tony Laidig, professional photographer and graphic designer. If you would like to learn more about design, photography, illustration, and more, join Tony for his weekly Expert Media Show at and visit his site at He rocks.

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