I see you over there, so young, eager, excited, confused and scared shitless. That's ok. Here's some help for your biggest creative assignment yet - selling yourself. Stay tuned for tips, articles and advice on everything from compensation, competitions and not coming off like an idiot, or worse, an asshole.
10 Mistakes You Make Right Now
All week I've said to make mistakes - I totally still mean it - go ahead and mess up -- but do it because you don't know better and are learning. Not because you're not trying, are lazy or in a rush, or can't be bothered to do shit right.
And honestly, there are some lines you should know not to cross.
Feel free to get as close to them as possible. Feel free to take pictures from the edge. To get binoculars and check out the other side. But there are definitely those situations when your boss/professor/partner is going to look at you like "Say Whaaaat?!?!"
Here are a few mistakes you may not even know you're making right now. Learning what they are, what not to do and what to do instead at this point in your career will really be helpful in the longrun.
(it says it's for designers but I think it's something copywriters should also take to heart like 1, 2, 7, 8 and 9)
Enjoy.
How not to design: The 10 biggest mistakes that designers make
All designers make mistakes. Craig Minchington examines the most common howlers, and how to avoid them.
Although we don't like to admit it later on in our careers, when we
start making our way as designers, we make a lot of mistakes. Once
you're working in a creative agency you quickly learn that there are a
lot of things you should not do. Here I've compiled a list of 10 common
design mistakes for you to be aware of. Although I've committed most of
these crimes myself, I have learned from them and hopefully they can
help you too...
01. Not understanding the brief
Get as much detail about what the clients wants and needs, as early on as possible
Without a clear idea of what the client wants you can end up making
matters complicated for yourself. A lot of time can be wasted
procrastinating, or working up design ideas that may not be relevant to
the client's needs. Instead, you need to read and understand the brief
carefully from the start, make notes, brainstorm and try to keep in
contact with the client to ensure that what you are working up is
heading in the right direction.
02. Not saving files correctly
In general, save your designs as CMYK for print, RGB for web
Knowing how to set up your files correctly from the start is vitally
important. There are many things to consider depending on the output of
the work.
Print work is generally set up as CMYK and at 300dpi, whereas work
for the web should be RGB at 72dpi. Remember to consider bleed, trim and
safety areas. Before sending to print, think about your file formats,
outlining fonts and colour profiles.
This may all seem like a lot to take in but learning these processes
will save you time in the long run, ensuring your work is reproduced
correctly and keeping the client happy.
03. Font overload
Too many typefaces can look cluttered and confusing. Image from www.creativeherb.com
Having a clear, formatted design is crucial and so it's important not
to use too many different fonts within a piece. You want your type to
look consistent so don't confuse the viewer by layering your page with
lots of varied typefaces.
As a general rule, try to stick to two different fonts and use the different font weights to differentiate and highlight areas.
04. Using the wrong fonts
The font choice for the title of the movie Avatar was widely criticised. Image courtesy of www.joshuabales.net
Alongside getting the number of fonts right, picking the right ones is equally important.
There are lots of places to download free fonts
but be aware of the potential pitfalls in terms of legalities and usage
rights, which may leave you having to restart your work with a new
font. If you're doing professional work, don't shy away from the idea of
paying for professional fonts. Try to stretch your budget using font
foundries such as hypefortype.com.
As well as deciding where to get your fonts from, your font choice is
equally important. It's not just amateurs who fall foul of this - for
example, the movie Avatar was criticised for its title font, which
looked very similar to the terribly overused system font Papyrus.
Obviously Avatar had a few other things going for it that helped it
rise above criticism of its typography, but your project may not be so
blessed!
05. Using too many stock images
Stock imagery can be very helpful to a designer, especially when you
can't afford to hire a professional photographer. However, certain stock
photographs seems to do the design circuit, especially within digital
art, and can become overly familiar.
Try to avoid using stock model images as a central focus for your
work because if you think it's a good photograph then it's more than
likely others will too. It would be a shame if you produced a beautiful
design only to find someone is using the same image in another design,
taking the shine and originality off yours.
06. Working destructively
Work in a way that means you can edit individual elements later if necessary
'Working destructively' means making permanent adjustments to the
pixels within your projects without being able to go back and re-edit
things later.
To avoid this situation, try using layer masks instead of the eraser
tool. Become comfortable using smart objects rather than rasterized
layers and make use of adjustments layers. And try to ignore the
standard adjustments from the image drop down menu in the toolbar.
07. Failing to proof read
However professional your design, spelling errors will make it look like the work of an amateur
Using the spellchecker is great for finding misspelled words within
your work but it won't catch correctly spelt words in the wrong context.
For example, one of the most common mistakes is to confuse "your" and
"you're", but spellcheck won't be able to help you with that. This is
just one reason why you must always proof read every piece of your work
(and ideally, get others to check it too).
For a real-life example, take a look at the above building-site
hoarding. It uses the word ‘exiting’ instead of the word ‘exciting’,
which changes the sentence altogether. As ‘exiting’ is a valid word it
wasn’t picked up on the spellcheck but some proper proof reading would
have brought the error to light.
08. Failing to checklist
The new Weightwatchers logo might have benefited from an extra pair of eyes
Once you've finished your design, it's good practice to run through a
checklist and get someone else to look over your work. A second pair of
eyes will often spot something you may have missed, especially if
you've been working on a project for a while.
For instance, take the latest WeightWatchers redesign by Pentagram.
The new logo has attracted ridicule and derision from some quarters
because of the four letters that glaringly jump out in the middle of the
word. I'll leave you to take a look and work out what I'm talking
about.
09. Copying other people's designs
Twitter users accused Claire's of copying a design by independent designer Tatty Devine
Originality is key as a designer, and plagiarism will not go
unnoticed. Gathering influences and inspiration is fine but straight
copying other people’s work is not. And with the recent growth of social
media, you risk your design crime being made embarrassingly public.
For example, accessory brand Claire’s faced a huge backlash on
Twitter over a necklace design that was uncannily similar to one created
by independent designer Tatty Devine. Keep your credibility and keep your work authentic.
10. Poor use of QR codes
Think about how practical it will be for people to scan your QR code. Image courtesy of http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com
QR codes are popular and can be effective when used properly. But that's often not the case.
Think about where the QR code is going to appear; for example, will
it they be easy to scan? (If it's on the side of a moving vehicle, the
answer is no!) Will your target audience need internet reception to
decode it? (They won't have any, for example, on the London
Underground.) As with all design, with QR codes it's all about context.
Craig Minchington is a Welsh digital artist, living in Bristol, creating under the alias Adora. He's worked on projects for leading brands including Coca-Cola, Nestle, Unilever, and Krispy Kreme as part of Epoch Design.Learn more about Craig here.
