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Design basics for non-designers
Five principles that separate amateur layout from professional. None require talent and all can be checked in a minute.
Key points
- White space is not wasted space; it is what makes the rest readable.
- Two typefaces, three colours, one alignment.
- Anything not deliberately aligned looks accidental, because it is.
Most in-house advertising material fails for the same five reasons, all of them mechanical and all of them fixable without design training.
1. White space
The instinct is to fill the page, because empty space feels wasteful when you have paid for it. The result is a layout in which nothing stands out because everything competes.
A practical rule: increase every margin by half and delete whichever element you were most reluctant to lose. The page will look more expensive immediately.
Empty space is what tells the eye where to look. Remove all of it and you have removed the instruction.
2. Hierarchy
Every layout needs a clear first, second and third thing. The reader's eye should have no choice about where to start.
Achieve it with size, weight and position, in that order. A headline twice the size of the body text creates hierarchy. A headline 15 per cent larger creates ambiguity.
The test: squint at the layout until it blurs. Whatever still stands out is your hierarchy. If nothing does, there is none.
3. Alignment
Every element should align with something else. Left edges to a common line, tops to a common line, and consistently throughout.
Centred layouts are the usual trap. Centring text looks tidy and reads slowly, because each line begins in a different place. Centre a headline if you must; never centre a paragraph.
4. Two typefaces, maximum
| Combination | Result |
|---|---|
| One typeface, two weights | safe, professional |
| Two typefaces, clearly different | good, needs care |
| Three or more | almost always amateur |
If choosing two, make them obviously different: a serif with a sans-serif, not two similar sans-serifs, which reads as a mistake.
5. Contrast
Grey text on a light grey background is a recurring failure, in print and on screen. It looks refined on a designer's monitor and is unreadable on a phone in daylight.
Body text should be near-black on near-white. Reserve low contrast for elements that genuinely do not need reading.
The one-minute check
Before anything is printed or published:
- Squint at it. Is there one clear first thing?
- Are all left edges on the same line?
- Fewer than three typefaces and four colours?
- Would the body text be readable outdoors on a phone?
- Could you remove one element and lose nothing?
If the answer to the last question is yes, remove it. Then ask again.
Frequently asked questions
How many colours should a design use?
One dominant, one accent, plus neutrals. A fourth colour needs a specific reason.
Which is the most common amateur mistake?
Filling the space. Crowding is what makes a layout look homemade more than any other single thing.
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