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I had passed the yard sign several times before my curiosity got the better of me. Was it really an abstract watercolor in shades of gray and rose? What was it doing in someone’s yard? As I walked up and studied the sign, I realized that it was promoting a community event that had nothing to do with watercolors. The sign was quite pretty – and completely ineffective.

Whoever created the sign had clearly take time to make it beautiful. The background artwork was indeed in gentle tones, dominated by gray and rose. The elegant typeface was thin and printed in black. Viewed on the creator’s computer screen, it was probably quite striking. But seen from the road at 35 miles per hour, it was an undecipherable blur.

Computers have triggered the development of many wonderful tools, and graphic design software packages are among the most popular. But buying a copy of Microsoft Publisher or Adobe InDesign does not make the owner a graphic designer any more than owning a #4 sable brush and a tube of cobalt blue would make him or her a great oil painter. Having the tools is not the same as having the skills to use them effectively.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop companies and other organizations from allowing employees with no graphic design training to create their brochures, flyers and other materials. (”She always makes such cute signs!”) Lacking a designer’s sense and skills, they commit basic mistakes that compromise the effectiveness of the pieces they design. Even worse, many of the users rely on the preinstalled templates, so what they produce looks like what everyone else does – and most of those templates aren’t all that impressive to begin with.

While working with a professional graphic designer involves an added investment, it can be a very wise one. Designers have the skill and experience to help you achieve your goals in far more effective (and often, economical) ways. They understand how type, color, paper, visuals, and all the elements work together, so their combinations add impact instead of creating clutter. They’ll help you put your best foot forward and ensure that every piece you do carries a consistent approach that strengthens your image.

Still convinced that you or your employees can do a fine job using that graphic design program? Unwilling to pay a little extra to have an expert make you look your best? Then please keep these seven basic rules in mind:

Remember design’s role. The purpose of design is not to make your materials pretty. It’s to make them communicative and more useful. Yes, visually attractive materials will draw the eye, but those materials exist because you have messages to convey.

Legibility matters. Choose fonts (typefaces) that are visible and readable, and make them large enough to be read. (Those who have entered the world of bifocals will thank you.) Don’t choose fonts because they’re cool, unique, or wacky.

Be consistent. Keep type sizes uniform throughout your piece. If you have a four-page document, make sure all four pages appear to be from the same document. Most of all, resist the urge to use 27 different fonts. One, two, or (rarely) three is plenty.

Paper or phosphors? Things look different on a computer screen than they do on paper, so if you’re designing for something that will be printed, don’t rely on the screen image when making decisions. That type that pops out of the background color on your screen at 200 percent magnification may melt into that background in the finished piece. (Don’t try to use low-resolution web graphics in your printed pieces, either.)

Color carefully. Color can add beauty and impact to your design, but too many colors or the wrong proportions are actually displeasing or jarring. Being colorful is not necessarily more compelling and communicative – and if it’s printed improperly, it can quickly become hideous.

White space is good. Don’t give in to the temptation to fill every space with type or visuals. White space makes your project look cleaner and more inviting, and it actually helps guide the reader’s eyes to the right places.

Keep logos reasonable. Many people don’t think that their companies’ logos will be noticeable unless they dominate the page. But all that does is make your material look cheesy and take away space that would be better used for your message. Pay attention to the work from top companies like Target, Nike and Starbucks, and the proportion between the size of their logos and the rest of the pieces. Then follow their lead.

Why would writers care about whether companies turn to professional graphic designers? It’s simple: we want people to be able to read and grasp the words we work so hard to create. A skilled designer makes a writer’s words far more effective and communicative. That’s when we all win.

Scott Flood creates effective copy for companies and other organizations. To learn more, visit http://www.sfwriting.com, or read his blog at http://sfwriting.com/wordpress/ ©2009 Scott Flood All rights reserved.

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With technological advances accessible to all, creating a web presence is easy and within reach. But with the countless websites that compete with one another for traffic, a website’s chance of success will depend on the degree of creativity and professionalism of its web design. Here is an anatomy of a top web design:

1. The most crucial component of a top web design is its purpose. A good web design is dependent on what the company envisions to accomplish with its website. The website should also be able to communicate this purpose to its visitors.

2. Once the purpose is clear, a good website harnesses the full power of its web design tools to produce top web design.

3. A good website optimizes the use of graphic web design. Top web designs are known to deploy dazzling graphics and colors that delight the eyes of the visitors. However, there should always be a good balance between graphical elements and textual contents.

4. Top web designs share common characteristics:

o Look is elegant and professional

o Clean, sleek, and contemporary

o Clear identity and technically superior graphic web design

o Right combination of colors

o Easy and intuitive navigation

o Highly interactive experience

o Loads quicker, downloads and uploads

o Provides solutions

5. Avoid the following common mistakes:

o Grammatical errors and misspellings

o Not yet found in the the search engines like Google, Yahoo, Windows Live

o Difficulty in loading the site or downloading from it

o Animations requiring not commonly used plug-ins

o Heavy on flash animations

o Overlapping music

o Overcrowding of contents and navigational buttons

o Long articles

o Unreadable fonts, inappropriate graphics

o Color combination that is hard to the eyes

o Not readily available fonts

o Font sizes either too small or too large

o Dead-end hyperlinks

o Windows popping-up here and there

o Difficulty in accessing the website

6. General navigation must be easy to the visitors. Top web designs have structures that make it easy for the visitors to navigate their way thru the menu without much thought, and move from page to page with ease.

A top web design gives any company an advantage if one intends to make an impact in the field of the World Wide Web Ecommerce. An elegant web design enables the attainment of strong web presence that also helps a company to realize its goals. It is not far-fetched to aim and grow big when you consider the almost limitless internet traffic source any website can have. The good points of having a top website design are just too good to pass.

To harness the advantages and benefits of having a top web design, getting professional web design services should be seriously considered. A good web design company will be able to deliver quality design services that meet your expectations. Finding the right web design services may not be that easy as there are quite a lot of companies offering these services. You have to make a smart decision to choose the best service company that will suit your needs, requirements, and considerations. It may be expensive at first, but in the long run, the benefits will outweigh the cost.

At Will2Design, you not only get a website but you get a full solution. Move forward toward success. Visit http://will2design.com

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Most people nowadays use the Internet. We use it to connect with other people, research things, do our work, go shopping, entertain ourselves, and for many other reasons. This industry does not seem to be slowing down at all and is always expanding exponentially. This is why learning website design and having your own website is a great idea in the modern world.

If you own a business or plan to have a business, you will need a really great website. So many consumers use a service or buy a product from a business because of the accessibility of their website. Many businesses see their profits increase greatly after starting a website.

For freelancers, such as artists and musicians, a website is the perfect way to show off your skill set and your talents. Since websites are incredibly cheap to set up or completely free, this is the perfect place to post your works and advertise who you are. When you advertise your website properly, there is no telling how many people will experience your work.

Learning web design is a great way to start making your own site. This way, you can customize the site and make it look however you want it to look. Alternatively, you can hire someone else to do it for you or you can use a site that allows you to create a site of your own from their freely available templates.

If you do decide to learn web design and create your own site or several other sites, you may end up finding a new career. Today, web design is a very lucrative business to be in and there is always someone who is looking for a designer. You can put any and every site that you have ever created in your portfolio to show off your talents.

When creating your site, make sure that you think long and hard about how people will interact with it. The most successful sites are easy to use and very intuitive. Also, great sites create a very positive image of the site’s owners in the minds of their visitors.

David Halim works for Halim Design, an affordable website design company. If you are looking for a professional website design, please consider us Halim Design. For more information about us, visit HalimDesign.com.

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