This blog isn’t for designers. This blog is for the people who write and want people to read their work, people who work with designers, and people who have always wanted to learn more about design. You don’t need to become an expert in Adobe Illustrator, become fluent in color theory or learn all there is to know about fonts. In order to create a good design, you just need to follow some rules about layout, visuals, and text.
I’ve written up some very basic guidelines based on my experience with designing infographics and apps. I hope they will help you think about how you want your content to look. I’ve also included sources with more in-depth information if you’d like to take a deeper dive. A well-planned design will make your content more readable, your key take-aways easier to find, and people will want to read your work. You don’t have to follow these guidelines, but it’s always good to know the rules before you break them.
Note: If you have a style guide you want to reference, now is the time to check it for tips. When I talk about your page, I’m referring to the area on which you’re designing. Your page may vary in size and shape. When I refer to your copy or content, I simply mean the words on your design.
Layout
One of the first things that you should focus on when drafting your page is what it looks like from far away. You should be able to identify the different elements and see how they interact. If your entire page is covered in text with no spacing, it’s not going to be readable. If your eye doesn’t flow over the page, it’s going to be frustrating to look at. If you want people to be able to read your text, you need to know how to adjust your layout based on your medium and you need to grid your page.
Gridding is the structure that your design is based on. It buffers text from the edges, separates columns, aligns content and makes it visually satisfying. The organization that gridding brings makes your design cleaner and more readable and, if your content goes across multiple pages, helps bring the pages together. Using a grid with two or three columns for text is a great choice in many mediums. It’s generally accepted that column widths should hold between 50-80 characters.
To determine how to grid your content, first you need to consider where it will be shown. The medium could be an image posted on Twitter, a word document, a banner or one of many other formats. The medium should determine the size and shape of your page. It should also suggest margin gridlines based on visible area, which can help you determine other grid spacing.
When working on your layout with a designer, discussions on layout can include the addition of open space, aligning text with other elements, and mirroring other formats. It may help to provide sketches or find examples of layouts you like when giving feedback.
Visuals
Next, think about what the entire page looks like together, considering the colors of your work and the images or graphics you plan to use. If you use colors that don’t match the content or colors that clash with the other colors on the page, your reader may become distracted and choose not to read your content at all.
When you’re working with color, less is more. Consider how different one area of your page looks from the rest, or the contrast. A pop of color will bring your readers’ eyes to that area, so use it for your most important information or key points. If your brand already has defined colors, use those. Otherwise, choose a color that you like or one that fits with your content. Depending on the hue or saturation, you can use this as your accent color, your background color or your highlight color. The next step is to find or build a color palette, or a selection of colors that go well with each other. Ideally, choose colors that are different enough that a black and white print out would still be readable.
When it comes to graphics, prioritize quality. An image that’s pixelated or doesn’t relate to your content makes it seem like you don’t care. A well-chosen image elevates your subject by connecting your readers’ unconscious relations to whatever the picture is. To ensure your image won’t be pixelated, check your medium and try to have a minimum of 180 pixels per inch (ppi). If you’re using non-image graphics, make sure that you’re using a vector graphic rather than a raster graphic.
Like word associations, color and image associations can have a mix of cultural and personal influences and may not always translate between people. When working with a designer, discuss emotive goals and consider requesting versions of the work using additional color palettes to compare the differences.
Text
Finally, look at your page’s text. In English-speaking countries, text goes from left to right and from top to bottom, so make sure that your copy flows the same way. If you set up your gridlines correctly, your copy will line up cleanly with the rest of your page, you’ll have space between columns, and your lines of text won’t be longer than 80 characters. Try to avoid what designers call orphans, the lone word ending a paragraph on a different line, or widows, a lone line of a paragraph in a different column.
Like many of these concepts, typography is its own area of expertise with such immense amounts of detail that it can become overwhelming. Font is a variation on the weight or style of a typeface, but, in most cases, they’re interchangeable. For now, I’ll simply introduce the categories of typeface: serif, sans-serif and display. In general, it’s a pretty good bet to use a serif font at one size and a sans-serif font at another.
Serif fonts have small embellishments like the base on the “l,” the weight at the tip of the “a,” or the tail on the end of “u.” Many feel these fonts are easiest to read in print and have an older feel to them. My favorites are Times New Roman, Perpetua and Georgia.
Sans-serif – or without serif – are the cleaner, minimalistic fonts you often see online. These are easiest to read and ideal for online body text. My favorites are Lato, Segoe UI and Tahoma.
Display fonts are used for small areas of text like titles or subheadings. These typefaces are not designed for legibility, so don’t use them in bodies of text. My favorites are Pacifico, Satisfy and Elephant.
One of the trickiest but most valuable concepts is visual hierarchy, which is basically how your brain understands and prioritizes the content on the page based on size, shape, color and contrast. A large, bold header is going to attract more attention than the smaller text you put in your paragraphs. An italicized section of text in a distinctive color will draw your reader’s eye. Determine the three or four most important sections or elements of your text and use formatting to prioritize them. Too many fonts, weights or colors will muddy your text and make it harder to read. Be mindful about the flow, what you want your audience to remember, and how weight and color affect the balance of the page.
When giving feedback on someone’s work, ask them how they chose the typefaces and why they decided on that organization of visual priority. If you disagree with the ranking of information, discuss the first three pieces of text you want the audience’s eyes to see.
If you follow these recommendations, you should have a good foundation on which to build your skills. Simply, leave space for the text to breathe, use a color palette when you can, and stick to two or three fonts. When in doubt, ask someone you trust for feedback.
Following design rules will lead to cleaner, more legible work that your audience will want to read. Designing is imparting mindfulness, structure and creativity into what people see. You may not call yourself a designer, but that doesn’t mean you can’t create well-designed work.