Simplified Graphic Design for Bloggers
Raise your hand if it takes you WAY TOO LONG to create graphics only to look at them a few days later and wonder how all that time and effort didn’t result in a compelling, delightful image?
I’m Clarita, a designer on a mission to simplify design for non-designers.
If you feel you don’t have an “eye for design”, you don’t know what looks good, what font to choose, colors confuse you…I’m here to guide you.
Creating visual content is overwhelming.
I am a strong believer that with a little guidance, the right resources and a clear plan, you can create beautiful graphics even if you have ZERO design skills.
Design is intimidating, I’ve been there.
This tips will help you create:
- Engaging designs for your business
- Delightful social media graphics for brand awarness
- Compelling clickable images to drive traffic to your blog
“Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.”
Charles Eames
In this post I am diving into the nitty gritty of BASIC graphic design.
Do you want to feel more confident about the graphics you create?
I’m here to breakdown “intimidating graphic design” into easy, simple chunks.
Let’s start with the 5 essential elements you will learn to use:
- Line
- Shape
- Color
- Texture / Imagery
- Type / Font
1. Line
A line is a very simple element we used to organize information and set a tone. A line can be a content separator, a joining element, an attention drawer. Different types of lines can convey different emotions.
2. Shape
There are mainly 2 types of shapes, geometric (straight) and organic (curvy). They create different emotional effects.
3. Color
I will keep it short and sweet. Use this to-the-point guide to pick your colors, taking into account the emotion you want your graphics to convey. You can try different hues (lighter or darker versions) of a color.
For example, HUES OF:
- RED: burgundy, pink, magenta, wine.
- BLUE: indigo, teal, turquoise, navy
- GREEN: lime, mint, olive, jade
4. Texture / Imagery
Textures and images are a very powerful resource. They can be patterns or photos. An easy way to understand the different types of textures and emotions that an image can give us, is to divide them in 3 categories: rough rustic, polished glassy, natural movement.
5. Typography
Is it FONT or is it TYPEFACE? Here is the simple explanation to understand the difference.
TYPEFACE = family of fonts.
FONT = member of a typeface family.
The most important concept you need to remember about fonts is SERIF vs SANS SERIF.
Wrap up!
Spending a little bit of time learning basic principals of graphic design can help you gain confidence in your skills and on the way you look at creating graphics for you blog and business.
I hope you found these tips helpful. Just a little bit of design knowledge can go a long way.
Graphics help you connect with your audience. If you dedicate a bit of time to improving the design and aesthetic of your visuals it will pay off in the end!
Happy simplified designing! =)
