50 Essential Design Dos and Don'ts

50 Essential Design Dos and Don'ts 

1. Must think of the idea before the visual

2. Must not turn to design annuals for creative inspiration

3. Must read books that are not about design

4. Must not rely solely on Google

5. Must not knowingly plagiarise

6. Must insist on a written brief for every project

7. Must ask clients questions in addition to the brief

8. Must confirm all deliverables in writing

9. Must agree on cost in writing before beginning each project

10. Must question a budget if it is clearly not enough to answer the brief

11. Must not try to do everything yourself at the expense of a project

12. Must accept that every project will preferably be more difficult than you expected

13. Must accept that every project will take longer than you expected

14. Must dress for work according to your client's or your employer's expectations

15. Must not present an option you don't want your client to choose become they'll choose it

16. Must be nice to colleagues working above and below you as things can change

17. Must not present teams of written research with a proposal just to impress the client

18. Must not present mood boards unless specifically asked - and even then, under protest 

19. Must not work for free

20. Must invoice regularly and on time

21. Must not accept assignments purely for money

22. Must take days off - especially if you're a freelancer 

23. Must learn the rules before you break them

24. Must acknowledge your mistakes rather than try to cover them up

25. Must not ask someone else to do what you can do yourself

26. Must find a design mentor and be prepared to be one in the future

27. Must remain humble in your work

28. Must respect  focus groups, but not at the expense of gut feeling

29. Must not qualify your creative abilities with software skills

30. Must rest your eyes periodically throughout the day

31. Must work with talented illustrators, writers and photographers

32. Must hire a good accountant and save more than you spend

33. Must build a team that complements, not duplicates, your abilities 

34. Must not be afraid to share ideas and collaborate

35. Must get client approval on s visual before racing to finish a project

36. Must not demonise another designer because you don't happen to like his or her work

37. Must not discuss a client's business with another

38. Must not criticise another designer in front of a client

39. Must not criticise work previously commissioned from another designer

40. Must never pretend you know more about a client's business than they do 

41. Must be available to your clients at all times, but in your terms

42. Must actually talk to your clients - real conversations build strong relationships

43. Must not discuss design with your client unless they express an interest.

44. Must count to ten when a client angers you before opening your mouth

45. Must not accept your client's word of gospel

46. Must not continue to work for a difficult client

47. Must stick to your side of the project's schedule regardless of your client's input

48. Must not procrastinate - ever

49. Must talk about design as an asset

50. Must keep it simple

50 Essentials Type and Typography on Design Dos and Don'ts

50 Essentials Type and Typography on Design Dos and Don'ts

1. Must use comic sans ironically

2. Must accept that Times New Roman has its uses

3. Must worship classic typefaces

4. Must learn about typographical classification

5. Must not choose the latest cool typeface for every new project you work on

6. Must learn that trendy typefaces do not always prevail 

7. Must accept that legibility and readability are more important than typographic styling

8. Must learn about the anatomy of letterforms

9. Must not use 'free' fonts unless you are sure they are of good quality

10. Must not design for print using system fonts

11. Must mix typeface choices to create typographic texture

12. Must not mix typefaces to create hierarchy 

13. Must not mix serif fonts in a layout

14. Must not use ultra thin typefaces for logo design

15. Must always choose a typeface with an acceptable range of weights for body text

16. Must not use any more typepfaces in one layout than is absolutely necessary 

17. Must not set a body copy using a script typeface 

18. Must manually kern script fonts

19. Must not set body copy in novelty typeface

20. Must not use display fonts for body copy

21. Must use real handwriting for convincing handwritten text

22. Must use ligatures in your choice of typeface accommodates them correctly

23. Must not slope a Roman font to create an italic font

24. Must not falsely embolden fonts to create bold weights

25. Must reward typefaces that work well as body copy with long-term commitments

26. Must buy into the twelve good typefaces theory

27. Must increase a serif font's italics by 1/2pt in body copy

28. Must optically adjust point sizes in mixed serif and sans-serif body copy

29. Must use old-style figures with U&L typography 

30. Must use aligning figures with all caps

31. Must not use horizontal or vertical scalings to distort fonts

32. Must not stroke your type so that it destroys the integrity of the letterforms

33. Must not ruin a typeface with a filter effect

34. Must learn how to customise type successfully

35. Must not reverse 6pt text out of a black background 

36. Must specify at least one plate as 100% tint for coloured type

37. Must not use excessive leading in body copy

38. Must not use CAPS for long passages of body copy

39. Must not have excessive amounts of reversed-out text

40. Must not over-style headings

41. Must not add two spaces after a full stop

42. Must apply an indent to the beginning of each new paragraph of body copy

43. Must not indent a paragraph that follows a heading or paragraph break 

44. Must not indent a paragraph that starts at the top of a column or page unless house style says otherwise

45. Must set the first few words of a sentence following a drop cap in small caps

46. Must not use tabs to create indents

47. Must hang lines of text from a tab in a bulleted list

48. Must learn the difference between a typeface and a font 

49. Must not confuse x-height with cap height 

50. Must consider a fonts x-height when specifying line feede

Reasons to invest in Brand Identity

Reasons to invest in brand identity

1. Makes it easy for customers to buy.

Compelling brand identity presents any company, any size, anywhere with an immediate recognisable, distinctive professional image that positions it for success.

An identity helps manage the perception of a company and differentiates standing out from its competitors.

A new product design  or enviroment can delight a customer and create loyalty.

A remarkable yet effective identity encompasses  such elements as a Name that is easy to remember or a distinctive package design for a product.

2. Makes it easy for the sales force to sell

Strategic branding identifies works across diverse audiences and cultures to build an awareness and understanding of a company and its strengths.

By making intelligence visible, effective identity seeks to clearly communicate a company's unique value preposition.

The coherence of communications across various media sends a strong signal to consumers about the laserlike focus of the company.

3. Makes it easy to build brand equity

A brand or a company's reputation is considered to be the most valuable asset of the company.

Small companies or SME's also need to build brand equity.

Their future success is dependent on building public awareness, preserving reputations, and upholding their value. A strong brand identity will help build  brand equity through increased recognition , awareness, and customer loyalty, which in turn would help a company to be more successful.

All who sieze every opportunity to communicate their company's brand value are building a precious asset.

Brands are a tangible assets and account for more then 70% of the value of a company.

Branding imperatives

1. Acknowledge we live in a branded world

2. Sieze every opportunity to position your company in your customers mind

3. Over and over again communicate a strong brand idea

4. Demonstrate a competitive advantage not just declaring it

5. Understand the customers.

Build on their dreams, lifestyle,values, perceptions and preferences.

6. Create sensory magnets to attract, attain and retain customers using brand identity.

7. Identify touchpoints. Know interface points of customers with the product or services.

What is branding?

What is branding?

Branding is a disciplined process used to build awareness and extend customers loyalty.

Branding is about seizing every opportunity to express why people should choose one brand over another.

A desire to lead, outpace the competition, and give employees the best tools to reach consumers are the reasons why companies leverage branding.

The process of branding:

1. Conducting research

2. Clearifying strategy

3. Designing identity

4. Creating touch points

5. Manage assets

Types of branding

1. Co-branding: partnering with another brand to achieve reach

2. Digital branding : web, social media, search engine optimisation, driving commerce on the web.

3. Personal branding: the way an individual builds their reputation.

4. Cause branding: aligning your brand with a charitable cause; or corporate social responsibility .

5. Country branding : efforts to attract tourist and businesses.

6. Emotional branding: a dynamic cocktail of anthropology, imagination, sensory experienced, and visionary approach to change.

 

Four basic must ask questions about any Brand

As competition creates infinite choices, companies look for ways to connect emotionally with customers, become irreplaceable, and create life long relationships.

To achieve the right connect you must ask and know the answers to the under listed:

Four (4) most important questions to ask a brand?

1. Who are you?

2. Who needs to know?

3. How will they find out?

4. Why should they care?

Brands have three(3) primary functions

Navigation

Brands help consumers choose from a bewildering array of choices.

Reassurance

Brands communicate the intrinsic quality of the product or service and reassures customers that they have made the right choice.

Engagement

Brands use distinctive imagery, language and associations to encourage customers to identify with the brand.

Ps. For your brands to illuminate it must be married to intelligence and insight with imagination and craft.

 

Brand Basics

What is a brand?
A brand is a persons gut feeling about a product, service, or company.

What is Brand identity?
Brand identity is tangible and appeals to the senses.
Brand identity fuels recognition, amplifies differentiation, and makes big ideas big ideas and meaning accessible.
Brand identity takes disparate elements and unifies them into whole systems.

Design plays an essential role in creating and building brands.
Design differentiates and embodies the intangibles -emotion, context, essence - that matter most to consumers.

Brand identity implies an asset.
Corporate identity sounds too much like expense.
This is an important distinction.

Brands help consumers cut through the proliferation of choices available in every product and service category