GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR NON-DESIGNERS Have you ever wondered what graphic designers know that makes their work look so great? Our panel shares their secrets so that you can make your own posters, brochures and other print materials. Anyone can make effective and attractive materials with the right knowledge. You'll come away with tips and advice that can noticeably improve your desktop publishing or do-it-yourself design and a get better sense of when to use the talents of a trained graphic designer. Panel: Amy Allen-Muncey, Cober Evolving Solutions Nathan Robertson, Communitech Brendan Waller, dsgn network

1. Graphic Design for Non-Designers
March 7, 2014
#14inspire
Presented by

2. Graphic Design Tips
for Non-Designers
Presented by Amy Allen-Muncey

3. How to keep your
design looking 'current'
What do I mean by “current”?

6. Grids! Why consistent spacing
and grids are important
• The grid is a series of invisible lines that makes up a pattern of
white
• Space which organizes your overall design.
• It’s important to set margins, columns and grids in order to
organize your content and keep spacing consistent.
• Without first setting your grids, the overall design, (whether it be
a poster, logo, letterhead, etc) could become messy and
unbalanced.
• Once you know the rules, feel free to get creative and bend
them!

7. What is continuity?
The unbroken and consistent existence or operation of something
over a period of time.

8. How do we implement
continuity?
• the first stage of continuity is creating a brand and
brand elements.
• These elements are created with the intention that
they are unchanging.
• That means that whatever you do, whether it’s your
business card, your website or as seemingly simple
as an email footer, everything needs to contain the
same fonts, styling and logo

9. We’re not all Starbucks
• Ok, we don’t all have millions of
dollars in our marketing budget
but we can learn a lot from big
brands.
• We can learn a tasteful way to
reinforce continuity without
going overboard
• We can learn that a great way to
begin to earn trust from
potential clients is to constantly
display great values while
linking those values with
imagery (your brand and logo)

10. Nathan Robertson
@nate_robertson nathan.robertson@communitech.ca

11. Imagery / Photography
No Clip Art! Quality & affordable
stock photography

12. Stock Photography
• Affordable, hi-quality photos for under $50
• Try to find photos that are recently added
and unique to your organization’s needs
• Invest in a couple hi-quality photos and use
throughout your marketing materials. eg.
brochure, web, posters, etc.
• istockphoto.com; shutterstock.com;
stocksy.com

13. Take your own photos
• your smartphone can snap better quality
photos than older digital cameras
• Use your phone’s filter effects & touch up
tools
• Be sure to use highest resolution photos as
possible
• Take a community class on smartphone
photography - Cambridge Libraries

14. Telling stories with numbers
• Find the stories in
numbers.
• Impact numbers can
quickly demonstrate your
organization’s successes
• Infographics can make
complex numbers and
ideas easier to digest

15. Infographics
• Use Powerpoint to create
simple pie charts and graphs.
Large numbers (%, $, ratios,
etc)
• Use simple icons to help tell
your story. Find free stock
photo icon sets online.
• infographic web programs:
http://infogr.am/;
http://www.easel.ly/;
http://create.visual.ly/
Free powerpoint templates: http://offers.hubspot.com/how-to-
easily-create-five-fabulous-infographics-in-powerpoint

16. Typography Tips
• Only use one or two fonts. Serif for titles
& headings, sans serif for paragraphs
• Move beyond system fonts installed on
your computer. Many free / affordable
fonts are online - just make sure they’re
legible!
• Unique fonts along with colour palates
will help make your brand more
memorable.

17. Typography Tips
• Use the fonts consistently across all of
your communication materials
• Be sure to adhere to fonts that have
been chosen for your organization’s
brand. It’s not intended to kill your
creativity, it’s intent is for consistency.
• More info on typography rules:
http://practicaltypography.com/
• Free / affordable fonts:
http://www.myfonts.com/;
http://www.dafont.com/; Google: best
free fonts

18. graphic design
for non-designers
(A few quick tips)

19. efficiencies
• Marketing and design doesn’t
have to be complicated
• We’re not robots, we all find
unique ways to tackle
problems
• Let’s go through some quick
tips for efficiencies for design
in your own office…

20. efficiency #1
POWE
RO
FTH
E
.
PNG

21. power of the .png
• Lossless compression – Save, re-save, quality
saves the same
• Colour-savvy
• Transparency options, no “jaggies”
• Various resolutions 72dpi (Web) to 300dpi (Print)
• .png files are one of the best common formats for
use in Word documents, PowerPoint presentations

22. So, how can you use
the .png?

23. efficiency #2
DI
Y
TH
E
LETTERHEA
D

24. The DIY Letterhead
• Letterhead is still an important
business tool
• By using a .png file you can create
letterhead for inside or outside the
office
• Insert, scale and position a .png
into something like a Word
document header
• You can set margins so text flows
around the graphic
• Displays as a watermark, but prints
fully opaque

25. SHEE
T
INF
O
efficiency #3
TH
E
INTERNALIZ
ED

26. the info sheet internalized
• In Guides, We Trust!
• Print margins to match your
office printer
• .png files designed, inserted
within those margins will result
in a bordered design
• Printing in the office doesn’t
need to be complicated!

27. the info sheet internalized
• “Bleed” is not as bad as it
sounds!
• 4/0, 4/1, 4/4 is not taking you
back to fractions in math
• Numbering system ensures no
miscommunications and
effective print re-ordering
• Lots of great local Printers to
help you make you look your
best!

28. thank you!
brendan waller
founder, dsgn network
bwaller@dsgnnetwork.com