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6 Design Tips You NEED in 2025 to Stop Looking Amateur

#Digital marketing
2025-10-24 14:349 min read

Content Introduction
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This video explains how to improve amateur graphic design by simplifying decisions in layouts. It emphasizes the importance of clarity through reduced content, focusing on four key elements: the exhibition title, a single hero artwork, essential dates, and a minimal footer strip for additional information. The video also outlines effective typography strategies by using a three-tier hierarchy (primary, secondary, tertiary) while maintaining a consistent scale ratio for text sizes. Lastly, viewers are encouraged to conduct a 10-second test with fresh eyes to ensure the main message is clear, and effective font pairing is highlighted as essential to avoid amateurish designs. Tips for utilizing typographic variable fonts and managing design choices efficiently are included, promoting a structured yet creative approach to graphic design.

Key Information

  • The guest emphasizes the importance of simplicity in graphic design and warns against overwhelming viewers with too much information.
  • He suggests condensing decisions to four main elements: the exhibition title, one standout image, and grouping dates and details together.
  • He introduces a '10-second test' for designs, which involves evaluating if viewers can grasp the main idea easily.
  • The concept of creating a structured typography hierarchy using primary, secondary, and tertiary text settings is discussed, emphasizing consistency in text sizes.
  • He introduces the idea of using a variable font to ensure clear weight progression in designs.
  • The speaker encourages testing different designs side-by-side to identify the most effective approach.
  • He mentions the Fontbase font manager as a resource for quickly finding and organizing fonts for projects.
  • The importance of creating a visual hierarchy and ensuring top-value elements stand out on designs is highlighted, particularly on billboards or donor campaigns.

Timeline Analysis

Content Keywords

Graphic Design

Discusses the common mistakes in amateur graphic design, such as overwhelming viewers with too much information and poor topography.

Exhibition Title

Emphasizes the importance of simplifying design elements to one clear exhibition title and a hero artwork, instead of cluttering design with too many details.

10-Second Test

Introduces a test to gauge the clarity of a design by asking fresh eyes to identify the main idea instantly.

Three Tiers of Typography

Outlines the three tiers of typography: primary, secondary, and tertiary, highlighting the significance of using a structured approach for effective design.

Fontbase

A tool that simplifies font management for designers, offering features for selecting and managing fonts efficiently across various platforms.

Variable Fonts

Discusses the use of variable fonts to allow designers flexibility in styling text, giving specific weight and scale preferences for different design elements.

Isolation Techniques

Explores ways to isolate elements in graphic design to enhance focus and clarity, thus leading to more impactful designs.

Design Proof Action

Summarizes the entry-proof-action model that describes the essential steps a strong graphic design layout should encompass.

Typography Pairing

Warns against incorrect font pairings that can negatively affect the professional appearance of graphic designs, providing insights on effective typography strategies.

Graphic Design Cheat Sheet

Offers a downloadable logo design cheat sheet to help graphic designers avoid common pitfalls in layout and font selection.

Related questions&answers

What are the biggest mistakes in amateur graphic design?

One of the biggest mistakes is confusing viewers with too much information at once, leading to overwhelming designs.

What is a messy museum exhibition poster?

A poster with too many elements like giant titles, multiple taglines, images, sponsor names, dates, and micro choices, making it cluttered.

How can I simplify a graphic design?

By determining the main idea and cutting down excess elements to focus on a limited number of key decisions.

What types of text hierarchy should I use in design?

Use a three-tier hierarchy: primary for the main title, secondary for taglines or subtitles, and tertiary for body text.

How do I size my text effectively?

Start with a base size and use a scaling ratio, commonly 1.618, to determine sizes for headers and subheaders.

What is the 10-second test in graphic design?

Show your design to a fresh pair of eyes and ask for the one main idea they gather from it. If too broad, simplify further.

What should every strong layout do?

Every strong layout should tell a story using a structured approach like entry, proof, and action.

What role does typography play in graphic design?

Typography is crucial, and pairing fonts incorrectly can diminish the professionalism of a design.

What is the importance of white space in design?

White space helps in highlighting essential elements and creating a cleaner layout.

How can I use Fontbase for designing?

Fontbase helps in managing fonts and offers features like auto activation in Adobe apps for easy access to missing fonts.

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