Common Graphic Design Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Olivia Harper
September 3, 2024

Graphic design is gaining popularity these days. But, it takes a lot of dedication and commitment to become a proficient graphic designer. You need enough time to learn graphic skills and mistakes to avoid. Once you learn the essential skills and errors to avoid, you will be good at your job.

Beginners usually commit rookie mistakes. If you are a beginner and facing common pitfalls, this guide is for you. This guide will help you learn how to avoid common mistakes in graphic design. Read along so that you will not commit graphic design mistakes.

What Is Graphic Design?

Graphic design is a visual art. In this art, you arrange visual elements and create an art with them. This arrangement of the visual elements portrays a message to the audience. The idea of graphic design is old. It was originated in the 1900s. There are a lot of vintage arts and manuscripts that shows the notion of graphic design.

Graphic design is the game of colors, shapes, and images. Communicating effectively with the help of these shapes and colors makes graphics a fascinating art. Practicing this art in your daily life enhances your creativity.

Purpose of Graphic Design

Graphic design aims to enhance your creativity and convey messages. Through good art, you can communicate with ease. You can deliver your message with deep meaning.

Viewers easily can understand the deep message when there are visuals and shades. In addition, art motivates people. It is also used in promotion, the entertainment industry and marketing of the products. You can grow your business with graphics.

Graphic Design Mistakes

Whether you are a beginner or a professional graphic designer, you commit mistakes for sure. Beginners especially make rookie mistakes. These mistakes can impact your work. If you want to be a professional graphic creator, you must avoid such mistakes. Some common and basic graphic design mistakes are:

Old Effects

In this day and age, people like to follow trends. They do not like outdated features and style. Be it fashion or art, giving a vintage touch may ruin your entire art game. Similarly, using old effects in your art can break your art into pieces.

Outdated designs in your art bored people. A design popular in its earlier age would not work in this age. You must follow and use new designs.

Using Many Fonts

As mentioned above, it is crucial to use new trends. Using old and many fonts is another mistake that a beginner makes. You may think that by using many fonts, your design will be visible to the viewers. However, this is not true.

Using many fonts can distract the viewers. They may not concentrate on one thing. There will be traffic that will confuse them. Using more than 2 fonts can blur the message of the design. Try to use one or a maximum of two fonts in your design. Do not choose mismatched fonts. Additionally, select the font size and color carefully. The size and color of the fonts also matter.

Avoiding Color Theory

Avoiding color theory is another one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Your poor choice of shade in the graphic design can impact your whole art. The graphics design is all about colors and shades. If the main pillar of the design is ignored, there is no point in your graphic design.

Poor color theory can impact your viewer’s impression. It can change the whole meaning of the art and overall visual. There is a psychology behind color that you need to learn and follow. This will help you with the perfect color combination.

A Few Visuals And Many Words

An art that is too wordy is not an actual art. Art should contain visuals, shapes, shades and a deep meaning. If there are too many words in a graphic design, it will turn off your audience.

Art is appealing when there are almost zero words and visuals. Do not add too many words. Use colors and shapes instead. Also, add visual elements more than words.

Lack of consistency

It is crucial to keep up with the visual element, colors and fonts. If you are inconsistent with these factors, it will ruin the visual identity of your work.

Make a set of graphics principles and guidelines for yourself. Follow those guidelines and keep checking the consistency of the colors and visual elements.

Use of Many Stock Images

One of the affordable and feasible solutions for images is stock images. Suing these images is reasonable when making a visual design. However, when you use these images frequently, it impacts the quality of your design.

Using too many stock images makes your design unprofessional and cheap. You can purchase photos to make your art more professional. Try to avoid images with cheap resolution and watermarks.

Low contrast

Making a design with low contrast can affect your design. The lack of contrast in your graphic makes its readability bad. It will lead to poor readability. Try to manage the contrast between the background and the text. Make it even and try to select a suitable lighting condition.

Lack of proofreading

One of the most common mistakes that a graphic designer makes is skipping proofreading. Everyone makes grammar and spelling mistakes, be it a beginner or a professional. Grammar, punctuation and spelling mistakes are common.

It is essential to fix such small errors with proofreading. Making grammar and spelling mistakes is common. However, avoiding proofreading is unprofessional. This can make your design unprofessional.

Although spelling and punctuation mistakes seem normal, some people notice such small mistakes. It is not professional to ignore such slips. These small things matter to the customers. You can avoid this problem with proofreading and it is the only way. Proofreading is not optional, it is mandatory in graphic designs.

Poor color combination

Color combination is another crucial component of graphic design. Poor color combination impacts the whole appearance of the design. Usually, designers cannot select the right colors for their designs. This mistake makes their designs ineffective.

Choosing the wrong colors for your design can suppress the details of your art. With the right color combination, you can enhance particular parts of the work. It is best to create a color palette before starting your design.

Lack of creativity

Creativity in graphics means a lot. Without creativity, your work will not stand out. If your work lacks creativity no one will like it. It should be original and generic. You can take ideas from other arts but copying it exactly can impact your design. Take ideas and add your creative ideas to them. This will make you design more viewpoint.

Having no hierarchy

The hierarchy of the design means how it is arranged and organized. Hierarchy is crucial for customers as it is responsible for the look of the work. It shows the placement of the parts of the design.

Designers usually avoid the hierarchy of the work. If the parts are placed in the proper place, the design will not deliver the message effectively. It can change the meaning of the design.

Moreover, with proper hierarchy, you gain the audience’s attention. Using incorrect hierarchy can distract your audience. Place the key parts of the design on the top. Also, use proper fonts and size as they are also a crucial part of the hierarchy.

Wrong format of the design

After making your design, saving it in a proper format is essential. The format of the design is another key issue that designers avoid. This mistake can mess up your whole work. It is essential to save your designs in the best web-based images like:

GIF
PNG
JPEG
PDF
PSD

Overdesign

Another common mistake that designers make is overdesigning their work. Designers usually put so much effort into designing. No doubt, a work should contain a design. But, overdesign can make your work unoriginal. Try to use a few filters. Simple filters, colors and fonts make the design elegant.

Graphic Design Tips

It does not matter if you are a beginner or a professional, you need to follow guidelines. Here are some guidelines and tips for you to become a professional graphic designer.

Always follow the fundamental guidelines of the graphic designing. Some of the basic guidelines of graphic designing are hierarchy, color, contrast, font size and proofreading.
Join training programs to learn the basics of graphics. Training and courses will help you learn the design principles.
Do not avoid the space of the visual elements.
An essential and the best tip for graphic designers is to practice more and more. Practice makes you a perfect designer. You learn from the mistakes and avoid repeating them in future.
Make a signature style. Determining a style will help you to excel at one style.
Contact other designers and learn from them. You can learn basic graphic techniques and polish your skills.
Simple designs are always elegant. It is crucial to keep your designs simple. Use simple fonts and colors. Additionally, make sure you are using the right colors.
Do not copy the design of their designers. Make your niche and be creative. People love original and genuine work.

Bottom Line

Overall, graphic design is the best way to communicate with your audience. With the help of the right shades, font size, images and other visual elements you can make a perfect design. However, both beginners and professionals make common mistakes in graphic design. You must know about the design mistakes to avoid them. Follow the tips mentioned above and create your original and perfect design.