Ten Design Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid

1) Overusing Fonts - Just because you have 1000 typefaces available on your computer, you don't need to use them all on the same design. Pick a font family that works best and stick to it. Choices from condensed thin to extended heavy work better that regular and bold. More choices within the same font family work better than multiple font faces.

2) The Extra Large Logo - We all know you love your company logo. Unless the logo is what your selling you have to prioritize the elements of a design. This directly relates to hierarchy. Sell your service, promotion, special offer not your logo. Using the same logo throughout is also very important. Changing fonts, tag lines, or design elements inconsistently only confuse consumers.

3) The Black Background - Using a black background does not make you different. It's a matter of basic color theory, place the same object on a black background, and on a white one, and the black one will appear smaller. Why is this relevant? Your headline, text, and worse logo will be that much harder to read. If you desired result is for an ad that people will actually want to read, using a black background is counter productive. Think about it.

4) Lack of Consistency - Establish a look, a font family, illustration style, and stick with it. Using to many different elements is visual overload. We all love Hawaiian shirts, yet who wears one during a job interview? Keep is simple.

5) No White Space - Areas of nothing can be a good thing. Fill a design with to much copy, patters, and images and the eye has no where to go. Clutter is still clutter, and by making your message harder to read defeats the purpose. Create visual resting places for the readers eye, giving visual clues where to look next. Good design works with both positive and negative space on a page.

6) No Hierarchy - Make a list of what is most important. If everything is the same size nothing gets attention. Establish a hierarchy of elements from headline, tag lines, offers, text, contact information. What do you want the reader to notice first? White space should always be considered

7) Overused Solutions - Balloons for a sale, Confetti for 4th of July. Blue for a water store... Avoid using the same solutions for everything. There is nothing wrong with being inspired by other designs, just don't copy them. We've seen the same solutions to the same problems repeatedly. Put more than a few minutes of thought into a design. Start with hundreds of thumbnails and explore every wacky, off the wall idea. Even if you don't use it, those crazy ideas will inspire a truly unique design. If a solution comes to quickly, your cheating.

8) Using Clip Art - Rarely will a book of 100,000 pieces of clip art deliver great design unless lack of originality is your desired solution. Many generic items such as arrows, icons, signs, flags, VISA cards logos are clip art worthy. For logos, or unique illustrations that will differentiate you from the masses this may not be the best source.

9) Stock Photography - Buying cheap photo CD's packed with thousands of images may sound like a great investment until you see the same smiling customer service woman on a competitors web site and marketing materials. Stock photography has its place, and when used creatively can save huge amounts of time and money. If the small expense of hiring a professional photographer for a day can keep you from looking unprofessional just once, it's worth it.

10) Application Centric Design - Letting your design applications drive the design solutions. Using built in templates, filters, and forms is easy for any one to create the same thing. Inevitably that's the problem, anyone can apply a PhotoShop filter to a scanned image for the same look. What may feel original initially is nothing more that a recipe of standard filters anyone can follow. Be original and use preset filters, brushes and templates sparingly.

For a FREE personal review of your design needs contact (McClintock.Design) either by e-mail or phone at 1-888-720-9203