Graphic design is an important part to marketing, especially when it comes to the presentation of promo products. As swag distributor, it’s important that you know the basics so you can position yourself as a resource for customers. You can guide them toward color, size and font decisions that can turn a product into a homerun for their brand. No graphic design background? Don’t worry – we’ll keep it simple.

7 Basic Graphic Design Elements

According to the online learning community, Skillshare, there are seven basic elements to graphic design. Let’s take a look at each one.

#1 Line

Thinking of lines as linear? Think again! There are many different aspects to lines in graphic design and using different types can convey different messages and emotions. Of course, there are traditional lines, which are horizontal, vertical or diagonal. However, you can use more creative lines to show excitement, calmness and everything in between, like curved, freeform, dotted, broken or other patterns.

We’re not just talking about the lines you see, but also the lines you don’t. For example, the organization of text follows invisible lines, and the way a company name or other contact info is displayed can be crucial to the success of a promotional product. When you lay out text, logos or other design elements for artwork, you’ll often see a grid after you upload your art. The grid won’t be on the final piece, but it allows you to layout the elements in a clean fashion and take control of the invisible “lines” you want the artwork to follow.

#2 Shape

There are two types of shape in graphic design. The first shape is geometric, which includes squares, rectangles, pyramids, octagons, etc. The second is organic or free-flowing shapes and can include things like natural shapes (ex. leaves) or abstract shapes (ex. blobs).

Different shapes can be associated with a variety of traits.

• Round – Positivity and harmony
• Square – Dependability and strength
• Triangle – History and power

#3 Color

Color is obviously an important part of graphic design (and your client’s brand). There are three groups of colors:

• Primary colors are the pure pigments that make all other colors when mixed: blue, red and yellow.
• Secondary colors are created when you mix two primary colors: green, orange and purple.
• Tertiary colors occur if you mix a primary color with a secondary color: red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, red-orange, yellow-orange or yellow-green.

Always keep tint and shades in mind when selecting colors. Pastels can convey calmness; bright colors: fun; and darker shades: professionalism.

The next important aspect to know about colors are color harmonies or how colors go together. They are determined by their position on the color wheel. You can help clients pick colors for their promos by understanding these rules:

• Complementary colors are contrasting colors on opposites sides of the wheel.
• Analogous color schools are colors that lie next to each other on the wheel. They’re often calming but if you don’t use them the right way, they can appear dull.
• Triad color schemes are vibrant. Colors used are spaced evenly around the wheel.
• Split-complementary color schemes are great when you want contrasting colors that aren’t jarring. To select them, use a base color and two colors adjacent to the complementary color.
• Tetradic or rectangular color schemes are when a designer uses two sets of complementary colors.
• Square color schemes create a square on the color wheel. They’re an excellent choice when you want more options for a design.

Before settling on a color scheme, it’s a good idea to research the colors used a lot in your client’s industry, as well as the psychological impact on colors. Keep a color wheel handy to make sure you’re combining colors with theory behind them – that’s when your client’s brand will make the biggest splash.

#4 Texture

Texture is the feeling of a surface. You can use different design techniques to make artwork appear like it has a texture to the viewer without them actually touching it. Some ideas you can suggest to clients include repeating two-dimensional elements to create an abstract pattern or even adding textured elements to typography.

#5 Type

Typography is extremely important in promo. Tell clients to use thick lettering to call attention to the most important aspects of their messaging (like a call to action). It’s recommended not to use more than three font styles or sizes in a project, so if your client starts to get a little too creative, remind them the final piece will look disorganized and confusing instead of tight and polished.

A quick distinction you should know is the difference between font and typeface. A typeface is the name of a family of like fonts that have a similar look and share many characteristics but aren’t the same. Arial is a typeface, but there’s Arial Black, Arial Narrow, Arial Nova and many other fonts under the Arial typeface umbrella. Do your best to steer clients toward using different fonts in the same typeface, and not different typefaces on the same product. It starts to look sloppy when the fonts aren’t related. Keep in mind bold fonts work great for taglines, where thinner fonts are better if the font has to be small.

There are some other distinctions that will help you provide input to clients. First, fonts fall into one of two categories: serif or sans serif. Serif is when a font has little feet on it – for example, the logos of Tiffany & Co. and J.P. Morgan. Sans serif font doesn’t have any part of the letter extended, like the logos for Target and Spotify. On websites or other digital publications, the most common rule is to use one font (serif or sans serif) for a header and another for a subhead or body.

Next, there’s kerning and tracking. Kerning is how much space is between two letters and tracking is the spacing throughout the whole word. You can adjust the spacing between two letters (for example a capital letter and the following lowercase one) to adjust the impact or adjust all the spacing consistently depending on where you want the emphasis or the message your client is trying to send.

Want help with fonts? Here are the top 10 most common fonts used by graphic designers according to Inkbot Design:

1. Helvetica – This simple font is the most common. While familiar and easy to read, if your client wants to stand out, you may want to direct them toward something a little different and less used.
2. Garamond – Bold but still subtle, this font is often used on websites and other educational mediums.
3. Trajan – You’ve definitely seen this font on movie posters and ads – especially ones about law, religion or society.
4. Futura – Recommend this font when you want to maximize your space. It’s fantastic for logos and slogans.
5. Bickham Script Pro – A readable script? Yes, please. Ideal for formal occasions.
6. Bodoni – Big in the fashion industry, this font includes thick and thin elements and is perfect for logos, decorative text and headlines.
7. Frutiger – Has exceptional clarity and readability.
8. Gotham – Clean, modern and professional, this has been a designer fav for over a decade.
9. Caslon – Great as a corporate typeface, but also fantastic for longer-form text online and printed.
10. Rockwell – Easy to read on small items like your smaller traditional promos.

 

#6 Space

Do not be afraid of white space, also called negative space. Too often, brands try to say or do too much and then none of their messaging gets across. Remember, providing space around a design element elevates and draws more attention to it. If using multiple objects, narrow the spacing between related items or increase it between unrelated ones.

#7 Image

One of the best things you can do is remind your clients that if they’re going to use an image, it should be a high-res image to make the goal of the marketing piece clear. Vibrant and attractive images work best, but if there is only a specific part of the image your client wants to focus on, recommend making that the focal point. After all, an image is worth a thousand words.

Advice to Share With Clients

Help your clients produce beautiful promotional products and supporting marketing materials by recommending these tips from Adobe:

• Have a hierarchy. The most important parts (usually the headline and button on a website or the logo and preferred call to action on promo) need to stand out. If your client wants to include a phone number but prefers prospects contact through email, make the email bigger or bolder, for example. If the headline or logo play off an image, make sure those are two pieces that stand out the most.
• Play with alignment until your client’s message looks the way they want it to. Centered doesn’t always make sense, and many modern brands will left align their messaging. Sometimes words are super spaced out. Suggest different things until your client feels their brand is fairly represented.
• Contrast is attention grabbing. Use it to pull the reader’s eye where you want it to go. If something isn’t standing out enough in a different font, size or when bolded, try a contrasting color and see if that does the trick.
• Use repetition of colors, fonts and images to make your client’s brand recognizable. There’s a reason we use the express step and repeat in promo!
• Seek balance, whether it’s with colors, image sizes or typography, you want things to balance out so they’re appealing to view and view again (the more balance a promo has, the more impressions it’s going to grab.

 

What beginner design tip do you follow? Share on our Facebook page.

 

Sources:

8 basic design principles to help you make awesome graphics. Adobe Express.

Top 10 Fonts Used By Professional Graphic Designers In 2022. Inkbot Design.

The Guide to Learning Typography for Graphic Design Beginners. Skillshare.

The seven basic elements of graphic design. Skillshare.