7 things non-designers should probably know

1. Symmetry is boring. Being playful and pushing the boundaries with asymmetry is much more likely to grab people and please the eye than symmetry can. When it comes to even designing the most basic of things, like a resume or a greeting card for a friend, play with asymmetry, don't just stick to "centered" images and type all day long.

2. Don't try and use Photoshop to create everything. Photoshop is not the ideal program for everything that graphic designers create. As a matter of fact, for most designers, it's used rather rarely unless photography is in their repertoire. Photoshop obviously works brilliantly for photographs, as it's created to do, but for vectors it just isn't the right program. If you want to create a poster or something based off of typography and graphics, try using Adobe Illustrator. If you want to create a layout, or something more in lines of a magazine or book, use Adobe InDesign undoubtedly. Those two programs grace the screen of graphic designers a heck of a lot more often than Photoshop does. The key is to know the differences between what program is used for what, it will save you time, downright look better, and it'll save you many frustrations.

 3. Color acts like a tool, use it right and intentionally, or don't use it at all. When using a color, there should be purpose behind it, it should inform something that you want communicated to your viewer. If you use a bright pink in a poster based on a pool party, it makes no sense. Color isn't just meant to make a design stand out, it's meant to make a design make sense. Think wisely before picking the color you want to use to convey your ideas. It makes a heap of a difference.

4. You don't have to use Times New Roman or Arial for everything. With the exception of professors wanting certain typefaces to be used for papers, expand your horizon when you are able to. If you want to replace Times New Roman try using the typefaces Baskerville, Didot, or Garamond for a still very simple serif typeface but with a little twist. If you want to replace a typeface like Arial, try using the sans-serif fonts Quicksand, GeosansLight, or Nexa Light... or good ol' Helvetica is always a good option. Those four typefaces are the ones that frequent my work perhaps more than anything else, and all of them you can find for free to download online.

5. Using more than three typefaces in one project is completely unnecessary. Pick one typeface that comes in italic, bold, thin, etc. for all of your body text, then pick one to two typefaces that are more interesting looking for headings and for very small areas of text. That's all you need. Projects that consist of tons of different typefaces turn out messy and cheesy.

6. Gradients aren't mean to look like gradients. In other words, if you are using a gradient to make something look bright and stand out, you're using a gradient wrong. I personally hate gradients altogether and never use them myself, but I consider a gradient to be useful and successful if it brings depth and volume to a design... and if you may not even be able to tell there is a gradient being used at first sight. If in doubt though, just skip the whole gradient thing altogether.

7. When in doubt, keep it simple. Complexity can work against a design much more quickly than simplicity ever could. If your eye doesn't know where to begin on a piece of work, that's a bad sign. If you look at something and feel overwhelmed by colors and a million different typefaces and graphics, you probably should re-think how much you're putting on a page.