12 Graphic Design Principles

When you are Graphic Designers there are some design principles that you must know to create harmonious and good
designs. These principles will help your designs to communicate clearly your ideas and how all the graphic elements of
your design interact with each other.

1. Contrast
Contrast is one of the most common Graphic Design Principles and every graphic designer must dominate it, contrast
refers to the difference between the elements in your design, mean for example in a color that if you use a dark color in
one element, the other graphic elements need to be in a light color to easily differentiate from the other. For example, if
you create a graphic design with a text, and the background of your design is Dark, then the text color needs to be in a
light color to make it easier to read.

 Visual hierarchy
 Fundamental Elements

2. Balance
If you are a Graphic Designer and you are working on a design project you need to know that every element you place in
your design has a weight on it, and it can come from color, size, or texture. Balance refers to how you put these elements
on your design and avoid putting all your heavy elements in the same place. There are two types of balance,
Symmetrical, which creates balance by aligning equally weighted elements, and asymmetrical design is the opposite, you
align a heavy element with lighter ones to create a contrast effect.
3. Emphasis
Emphasis refers to the importance of the elements on your design, and what order they should have on it. What the
emphasis principle says is that the most important information that you need to show in your design must be the first
thing the people see in your project. For example, in a Movie poster design, the first thing you need to see is the Movie
title, then it can be the name of the director and after the name of the actors and actresses, if you want to know which
are the best Poster Design in Movies you can check my post about it and see how the emphasis work on this poster.

4. Repetition
Repetition is a great tool to reinforce an idea you want to transmit through your design and it also helps to unify your
project, you can use the repetition principle in different elements as color, typefaces, shapes, or other graphic design
elements. For example, if your design has multiple typefaces or colors, it can be seen as a bad design and uncomfortable
to watch due to the chaos, but we can avoid this by choosing two typefaces for example, and using them in all the
design.

5. Proportion
The proportion principle in graphic design is one of the easiest to understand, basically, proportion refers is the size of
elements to one another in the design. Larger elements are easy to see in design than smaller ones and by this principle,
larger elements are more important than smaller ones.
6. Hierarchy
Hierarchy principle in Graphic Design stands out that the most important elements in your design also should appear to
be the most important, this help people who will see your design understand better what is the important element on it.
You easily can see a hierarchy example in titles and headings in a design.
 Typographic Hierarchy in Graphic Design
 Visual Hierarchy Principles in Graphic Design

7. Rhythm
The rhythm principle is easy to understand by using the music as an example when you are using repeating elements in
your design this creates spaces between these elements, and this creates a visual rhythm as this happens in musical
compositions. There are five types of visual rhythm: random, regular, alternating, flowing, and progressive.
8. Pattern
The pattern in Graphic Design refers to a repetition of multiple graphic elements on your design working together to
create an eye-catching and harmonious design. Pattern principle is also referred to how design elements are designed in
a project and set a standard on it to easily communicate your ideas.

9. White Space
White space is also known as negative space, and it refers to the area of a design that is empty and not include design
elements. But white space is actually a really important design element, you need to give your design elements space to
breathe and easily differentiate them from other elements.
White space is also used in Logo design to create hidden images on it and give more information about your brand and
avoiding to saturate it, and if you are interested in know the 7 qualities of a good logo design you can check my post
about it!
White Space in Graphic Design

10. Movement
The movement principle in graphic design refers to how the human eye interacts with your design, and the most
important element in your design must be the first thing people see, and after seeing it your design needs to lead the
viewer to the next most important element.
11. Variety
The variety principle is used in design to create visual interest to the viewer and it can be created with different elements
as color, typography, images, shapes, and many more. And by using the variety we avoid creating a monotonous design
and lose the interest of the viewer.
It’s important to understand that when you use the variety principle you need to be very careful by not overloading your
design and create chaos.
Shape Psychology in Graphic Design

12. Unity
Unity principle refers to how well all the elements used in your design project work together, they should have a clear
relationship and communicate the same concepts, this will cause that your design looks more organized and every
element on it will be related to each other.

Conclusion And Graphic Design Principles Infographic

As I mentioned in the introduction these 12 design principles must be known by every graphic designer, now you can
implement these principles on your designs and practice them, this will help your graphic design projects look better and
communicate easily your ideas.
And once you have mastered all 12 principles you can start to play with them and using to create unique design and
creative ways to communicate your ideas through your graphic design projects!
1.How to Use Contrast in Graphic Design
Contrast is a key principle of visual hierarchy and a fundamental element in graphic design, the contrast in
graphic design is a great way to attract the viewer attention at the same time that organizes your elements in
your graphic design elements by focusing the eye on most important parts of it. When talking about contrast
many people just think about color contrast, but you can apply contrast in different ways using color, size,
shapes and typography, on this post I will show you how to apply Contrast principle in graphic design to make
your design projects better using these graphic design tips.

What is Contrast in Graphic Design

When we are talking about graphic design contrast refers to a representation of two elements of the design in
opposite ways, is a very useful design principle used by graphic designers to create focal points in a graphic
design layout that makes your eyes naturally draw to that point.
Contract is also used in graphic design to give shapes or objects better visual weight and balance the whole
design, it is also used to organize all the graphic elements present in your graphic design project at the same
time that you can use typography contrast to organize text and enhancing the most important parts of it.

Type of Contrast

How to Use Size Contrast in Graphic Design

Size contrast in graphic design consists on adding a variation of scale and size to the different graphic elements
on the composition being the bigger ones the most important elements of it and where the viewers will look
for the first time. You can apply size contrast in every element from your design layout, from text or shapes,
making the text or shape bigger to focus on that part of the design, usually, the bigger text is the title being the
focal point.
By adding size contrast to your design makes it more interesting visually and help to assure the key ideas of the
design being the big item more important than the smaller, by playing with this type of contrast you can be
sure to move viewers eye on the right area of the design layout. Size contrast is also a good graphic design
element if you want to create minimalist graphic design projects, as you are lack of elements to play in your
design, you can use size contrast to make your design layout more interesting and avoiding boring design by
using the same size in all elements.

How To use Contrast in Color

Color contrast in graphic design consists on playing with complementary color schemes to drive the viewer’s
eye through your design composition, usually, the first look of the viewer will be the brightest part of your
design as it is more notorious than the darker color, so use it to create a focal point adding the most important
element of your design with the high contrast color.
Color contrast is the most popular type of contrast in graphic design and most well-known principle for non-
designers and it’s not a surprise as color theory is a key principle in graphic design. As it happens with different
types of contrast is used to drive viewer attention and make your design more visually interesting.
It’s also very important to choose the right color combination to create an eye-pleasing color contrast because
if you choose a wrong combination it can be irritating and frustrating to the viewer, it’s also important to avoid
using colors near to each other inside the color wheel if you want to create color contrast as they look very
similar and you won’t obtain that result.
Use complementary colors to create contrast but avoid too bright combinations that can produce strain on the
eyes, if you feel that the color contrast from your design layout it’s too bright and can be damaging to the eyes,
try to different shades of that colors and experiment with the different tones.

How To use contrast in Shape

When you have a repetition of the same shape in your graphic design layout for example squares, it’s a good
idea to add a different shape like a circle to drive the viewer attention to that specific part of the design as it’s
different from the previous shapes.
Using shape contrast in your graphic design layout can help you focus the viewer’s attention to a specific point
making it the most important element of the composition at the same time that makes your design idea more
interesting by avoiding a monotonous use of the same shape through the layout.

Imagine a design layout formed by rectangle shapes all around, this will make it look boring and confusing by
the viewer as he wouldn’t know what is the key point of the design, by adding a variation on the shapes it will
make automatically the first thing people will see and it should be the key element from your composition.

How To Use contrast in typography

Typography or font contrast in graphic design consists of pairing two different fonts with a clear visual
differentiation to focus the main information on the most notorious font, being the most important part of the
text the title which will be the first thing the viewer will read followed by the body text.
It’s important to note that bold or more decorated fonts can grab viewer attention more easily but they don’t
have good readability for long pieces of text, that is why only use it for tittles or small pieces of text that you
want to focus by the other hand for body text, you can use less decorated fonts as the key part for long pieces
of text is to maintain good readability and make the viewer easy to read.
Imagine a design layout only made by text, and now imagine that text is the same through all the design, really
boring right? there are two ways of applying type contrast, ad the first one is to choose two or more fonts for
your design, being the header one font that focuses more attention and the body text use a more readable
font.
You also can use the same font throughout the whole design by you can apply different weights depending on
the importance of the words, using bold weight for the focal points, and light or regular weights for the rest of
the body text.
Conclusion
I hope you find this post useful and learn the different types of contrast in graphic design and how to apply
them in your next graphic design project to make it more interesting visually and if you find this post about
contrast principles interesting you might find interesting this post where I show you the 10 principles of visual
hierarchy in Graphic Design!

Visual Hierarchy
Graphic Design Fundamentals
To be a Graphic Designer you need to know the Fundamental Graphic Design elements that every design
project has on it, on this post I will show you them and how to use them in your next Graphic Design project.
1. Line
The line is one of the basic elements of Graphic Design, a line is used to connect two or more points, but
Graphic design is usually used to divide the space and to focus the eye on a specific location. There can be
different types of Lines, fat, thin, wavy, and any form you can imagine to connect two points, and every type of
line has a different feeling.
You can easily see lines in every graphic design project or illustration as they are used as graphic elements,
textures, patterns, and backgrounds. When working with lines it’s also important to pay attention to weight,
texture, style, and color because the variety of these qualities can produce different emotions or the visual
effect on the eye.

2. Color
Color is one of the most important elements of graphic design and the most obvious, in design we can use
color for everything as it can be applied to the background, lines, shapes, or other graphic elements in the
composition.
Color in graphic design is very important as every single color generates different emotions and it’s used to
transmit these emotions through the full composition and have an effect on your mind.
Maybe many people think that color is an easy graphic design fundamental, but this is not true due as many
colors don’t work well together for the eye and they might transmit opposite feelings, that is why is important
to learn the Color Theory on Graphic Design to work perfectly with color, and you can check my post where I
will show you everything about color theory and color meaning.
 Color Psychology in Logo Design
 How To Use Color Theory in Graphic Design

3. Shape
The shape is also one of the most basic elements in Graphic Design. Shapes in design have two dimensions and
are measured by their height and width, and they are defined by boundaries such as lines, color, or negative
space, and in some way, we can say that all visual elements are shapes. In graphic design, there are two main
types of shapes, Geometric and Organic shapes.
Geometric shapes in graphic design are the ones that can be drawn by using a ruler or compass, and geometric
shapes produce a feeling of control or order whether they are simple or complex.
On the other hand, organic shapes in graphic design are the opposite, these shapes can be drawn freehand,
and also you can find these shapes in nature that is where his name comes from, and these shapes produce a
natural feel to the eye.
Shapes in design are very important to communicate ideas in a visual way due to the interaction of these
shapes between them. You can easily see an example of this by looking at street signs and symbols.
It’s also well to know that shapes in graphic design are many times used as the foundation of every project and
they help you to organize and separate the content from your design work.
 Shape Psychology in Graphic Design

Size is also one of the basic elements in graphic design, as usually the bigger elements catch your attention
faster than the smaller ones, and size or scale is used in graphic design to create more dynamic design projects
and to focus the eye on certain elements of the design.
You can use scale and size in shapes, lines, typography, or other design elements to give more variety to your
composition and avoid boring designs.

5. Texture
Graphic design projects are visually based and you can’t touch them physically (unless you have designed
packaging) it’s important to transmit the look and feel of the elements through the eye, and that is why we use
textures in Graphic Design. The texture is a physical quality of a surface, and we can mimic the texture feeling
in design in illustrations or by images representing the surface we want to transmit.

People have memorized the texture of certain things and by looking at them they already know-how will be
the touch them, that is why texture images work well in graphic design, as the viewer can feel the touch of the
visual object because he already knows how it feels in real life. A quick piece of advice is that you don’t go
overboard with the use of texture in your design because it can be overwhelming to the eye of the viewer.

6. Space
Space is a vital graphic element and many times is underestimate and many rookie graphic designers have
“horror vacui” and avoid completely blank space. Space is the area around the graphic elements in a design
project, and it can be used to give the eye a rest and focus on other graphic elements in the compositions, or it
can be used as other graphic elements by using negative space and create hidden shapes as you can see on the
FedEx Logo Design.
 White Space in Graphic Design
7. Typography
Last but not least, the last Basic Graphic Design element is typography, and the Typography definition is the
style or appearance of text. It’s very important to choose the right font to you Design project because at it
happens with colors, every typography style has their own feeling and they transmit different emotions.
You can find playful, serious, elegant, minimalistic, and many more typography styles, and when you create a
graphic design project you need to choose a font that goes well with the message you want to transmit with
your design. Also, it’s important to know that there are many decorative fonts that are called display fonts, and
these fonts are created to be used as titles or in small amounts of text by their decorative nature.
 Typographic Hierarchy in Graphic Design
 Font Psychology in Graphic Design

Conclusion
In conclusion in this post, I show you the basic graphic design elements and now you can easily differentiate
the small details in every design project, now you need to put all these design elements together and create
amazing Graphic Design Projects! If you want to master these fundamental elements you can check these
articles.

Color Psychology in Logo Design

Colors are a key principle of graphic design and it plays a huge role in branding design as people only will look
at your logo design for 1 to 10 seconds and will form a first impression of your brand, that is where comes
color psychology in logo design, as we need to convey the most information possible of your brand in that
space of time.
It’s not a surprise that colors have a huge impact on people behavior as they evoke different feelings and
emotions in the viewer as they are usually associated with that emotions, that is called color psychology and
we can use it in graphic design to associate our logo design with specific emotions, let’s see how we can use it
for our brand logo!
Color psychology in Logo Design
Before we start to analyze the different color meanings in graphic design let’s talk about color psychology first,
and how it affects consumer decisions, as mentioned in the introduction color psychology studies how
different colors influence human behavior and what feelings they produce on them.
Every brand is different and that is why they need to choose a specific color scheme that better describes their
brand message, that is why there is no mathematical formula to choosing a color for your logo design, instead,
you need to understand what are the core values of your business and what feelings you want to transmit
through your brand identity system.
Color choice by the biggest brands
Blue: 33%
Red: 29%
Black, Grey and Silver: 28%
Yellow or Gold: 13%

Red Logos
Red color is considered to represent feelings of romance and it’s universally used to show excitement passion
and anger. You can use red in logo design if you want to transmit feelings of power, energy, passion, love and
seduction through your brand, and if your business is loud, playful, youthful and modern red color is a good
option for your logo as it makes you stand out from the crowd.
Red is a great brand color because it’s easy to use to catch the viewer attention as unconsciousness red is the
first color we see when we are babies besides black and white and we have the ability to see this color better
than others to make us easier to identify fruits on the trees at the same time that when humans are emotional
their faces turn red.
These factors make red a strong primary color for your logo design as it’s easy to identify and many restaurants
and food brands use it to stimulate the appetite of their customers, you also can see using red color for
marketing campaigns to stimulate feelings of urgency.
You can use red alone for your logo design or you can pair it with white, black or other neutral colors to create
your brand color scheme. Some popular brand that uses red for their logo design are Coca Cola, Netflix and
YouTube.

Orange Logos
If your brand stands out for playful and innovative traits then you might think about using orange for your logo
design, as this color evokes feelings of cheerful, friendly and enthusiastic. Orange is also a good option for your
brand color if you want to stand out from the crowd as it is a very energetic color and can attract the viewer
attention.

But be careful about what tone of orange you use for your brand logo as a very bright tone of orange can be a
little harsh for the eye that is why many brands prefer to use peachier tones for their brand logo to avoid that
negative effect on the eye and preserve the eye-catching effect of orange.
Orange is a warm color in the middle of red and yellow and it is usually associated with change and for that
reason, many brands that want to be associated with feelings of freshness, excitement and friendly companies
choose orange for their logo design.
If you choose orange as your main logo design color you can combine it with a nice neutral color to balance the
contrast, and it’s perfect for entertainment, food and beverages and energetic brands as you can see orange
logo examples in brands like Soundcloud, Fanta or Firefox.
Yellow Logos
Yellow is a warm color really bright that usually is used by brands who want to transmit to their audience
feelings of friendliness, cheerfulness and happiness through their brand colors. Yellow color can be associated
with summer and sunshine and if your business wants to transmit youthful energy go with a yellow logo
design.
If you have seen my post about color theory, you would know that yellow is a primary color in the subtractive
color system and an interesting fact is that yellow was one of the first colors humans were able to mix and use
in their painting.
If you are planning to use yellow color for your logo take care that it also can suggest bargain or cheap
products, feelings that are not suitable for high-end brands, in that case, I would recommend you better go
with gold colors for your logo as it can be associated with power and luxury. Some famous brands using yellow
or gold for their logos are McDonald’s, Cadbury and Rockstar Gaming

Green Logos
The interesting fact about green color is that is the color to which human eyes are most sensitive and humans
can easily differentiate most shades of green, usually, green logos are associated with growth and new life if
we talk about color psychology at the same time that can transmit feelings of harmony, rest and balance.
Most of the plants are green and that fact made this color associated with nature and the environment a green
logo is a good option for environment-friendly brands and products, as you can see many vegetarian, vegan
and eco-friendly brands using green as the main brand colors.
The green color in logo design is also associated with different traits depending on the culture, as for example
in the US it’s associated with money and wealth because it’s the color of money. Some famous brands using
green logos are Animal Planet, Starbucks and Lacoste.

Blue Logos
Blue color as we have seen previously is one of the favorite colors for marketers and brands as it is associated
with trustworthiness and seriousness key attributes for any company. Usually, blue logos are associated with
feelings of calm, control, logic, honesty, trust, security, and confidence and can help to establish trust between
your brand and the viewer.

By another hand there are two problems with blue logos, the first one is due to the popularity of blue logos as
many brands have used it for their brand colors, that is why if you are planning to use blue for your logo you
will need to find a way to stand out from the rest and you can try to experiment with different shades of blue.
The second problem that blue logos have is the fact that is a cold color that can make your brand look cold and
unfriendly and can be a problem depending on the feelings you want to transmit with your brand colors.
As mentioned blue logos are associated with trust and confidence, which is why is a very popular color for
finance, IT, equipment, energy, healthcare and transport brands and some famous brand using blue logos are
Facebook, Twitter and Skype, so if your company is focused on IT take the blue color present for your brand
color palette.
Purple Logos
Historically purple and violet colors are associated with royalty and luxury, that is why if your brand is focused
on luxury products then think about a purple logo for your brand. Purple is also associated with feelings of
spirituality and can be associated with creativity, extravagance, fantasy, mystery, calm and sophistication.
Purple logos are really powerful to drive viewer attention and make your brand feel more luxurious especially
when it’s combined with gold, also purple color works great for packaging design, think about Cadbury
chocolate, by only looking at their purple packaging you associate it with good quality chocolate.
In modern logo design, there are not many brand using violet logos and it worked very well for those brand
who have implemented violet logos, so if you want to go outside the box and outstanding from your
competitors think about a violet logo or if you want to give a luxury feel to your brand purple is your color!,
some famous brand using purple logos are as mentioned Cadbury, Yahoo and Twitch.

Pink Logos
The pink color is used for brands that want to be associated with feelings of hope and inspiration as in color
psychology pink is associated with calmness, fantasy, dreams, comfort, childhood and reassuring.
As interesting fact in Japanese culture pink color is associated with spring as it’s the color of the blossoming
sakura and this fact makes pink used in branding that wants to be associated with sweetness and transmit
feelings of fantasy.
In modern logo design pink is a really popular color that makes your brand look youthful and luxurious and it’s
used for baby brands, desserts and toys factories. In the other hand pink color also can be associated with
feelings of immaturity and playfulness that could not work well for some niches. Some examples of famous
brands using pink logos are dribble, Dunkin Donuts and Adobe Indesign.

Brown Logos
Brown color in logo design it’s not very popular for many brands as many people have associated it with rotting
and decay, but by another hand, brown color can be associated with rugged, masculine and serious traits, and
if your brand personality traits are these one brown logos is an option you might have in mind.
The fact that not many brands use brown logos can make your logo stand out easily from your competitor
depending on what niche is your brand. Brown color can transmit feelings of strength, mature, safe and can
make your brand associated with down-to-earth trait. Brown color also makes your brand look vintage and
hand-made.
Brown logos are also a good option for brands that are associated with eco-awareness and organic products
that want to avoid using green and brand which sell brown color food as coffee or chocolate, that is why brown
is a popular color for companies in agriculture, food, family products and transport and some famous brand
using brown logos are Nespresso, UPS and m&m’s.

Black Logos
Technically black isn’t a color as it is the absence of light, but we will refer it as a color to make it easier, as
black logos are always been used and it’s very popular among luxury brands as it represents feelings of
efficiency, prestige, power, sophistication, elegance, luxury, protection and seduction.
Regard the color you choose for your brand logo is always recommendable for any brand and identity design
project to include a black version of your logo as it will make it easier to include your logo in different designs
in a more minimalist way without distracting the viewer from design.
Black logos are serious and strong and it’s the perfect choice if your brand wants to be associated with luxury.
Black color in logo design is very popular for luxury, fashion, IT and equipment brands and some famous
brands using black logos are Chanel, Nike or Louis Vuitton.

Gray Logos
Gray logos are in the middle between the absence of light (black) and full light (white) and its a great color to
have in mind for your logo if you want to be associated with mature, classic and serious attributes. Grey color
in logo design can be associated with feelings of professionalism, dignity, classic, modesty and stability.
By another hand, gray logos also can be associated with boring and ordinary logos because the lack of color,
that is why take care about that fact when using gray color in your logo design, and you can use the fact that
gray is not warm or cold, and is not masculine or feminine, as it’s a completely neutral color and you can use it
as a good brand personality trait.
Gray color in logo design is very popular among equipment, transport, IT, finance and hi-tech companies
because it makes them feel serious, professional and credible, by another hand if your brand is about food an
beverage gray will not be the most suitable color for your brand. Some famous brand using gray logo examples
are Apple, Audi or Mercedes.

White Logos
With white color happens the opposite as black, as technically white is not a color and it’s the absence of color,
but if we consider white as a color in logo design, then it can be associated with youthful and economical
feelings. White logos can express feelings of sincerity, cleanliness, purity, peace and simplicity.
White in logo design is more used as complementary colors or as a technique to create negative space in a logo
instead of using it as the main color for logo design. Famous brand using white logos as negative space or
complementary colors are FedEx, Tesla and The North Face.

Why we associate colors with feelings

Humans associate colors with certain feelings and behaviors and we use these associations of color in graphic
design and logo design to convey the brand message in color, the science that studies how people react to
color is called color psychology.
The color associations came from three different elements that made us react in a specific way depending on
the color we see, these three sources are aesthetics, culture, and programmed associations, so let’s see how
they affected color psychology.
 Aesthetics: There is a whole science that studies how different colors combine with each other and this
is called color theory which you can read more about it on this post. There are certain color
combinations that look harmonious and produce certain feelings to the viewer, by another hand if we
don’t combine the colors correctly this can cause tension in the viewer.
 Culture: Depending on where are you from there are certain colors that are associated with specific
feelings, celebrations, or objects, for example, the money used in the US is green making people
associate unconscious this color with wealth, and in Japan, the Violet color is associated with samurais
and warriors producing feelings of nobility and strength.
 Programmed associations: There are certain feelings that are universally associated with colors
produced by evolution, for example, red color is everywhere associated with passion.
How to Choose Color for your Logo
After seeing the meaning of every color in logo design, the next question is how to choose the right color for
your brand. and the first step to do it it’s to make clear what are the main traits of your brand and how you
want your business to be perceived by your customers.
The logo design color will make a huge impact on your whole brand and identity design project to choose one,
first make a clear brand identity, identify your brand traits and once you have a clear brand message and what
are the qualities you want to enhance of your brand pick up the main color that is associated with that feeling.
Combine Colors for your Logo
If your brand has different qualities you want to enhance through your logo design you are not limited to only
using one color for your logo, you can pick up multiple colors for your brand logo if you want to enhance
different traits of your company, you can take as an example eBay, Google or Instagram.
Take note that if you are planning to combine two or more colors for your logo it’s important to have in mind
color theory and see how these colors work together and if they are harmonious. Another important piece of
advice for multiple-color logos it’s to not go crazy with color to avoid overwhelming the viewer and make it
more difficult to memorize, remember that people will only look at your logo for some seconds.

Stand Out from the Competitor

A key attribute for a good logo design is to be recognizable, and if you want to know the 7 Qualities for a good
logo you can read this post! Regarding color, you need to research in your sector what colors are using your
competitor for their logo design and avoid using the most popular color from your sector, instead of it try a
different color palette that conveys your brand message.
Using a different brand color in your logo design than your competitor will make your logo stand out from
them and people will pay more attention to your logo, this effect comes from contrast if you see a repetition of
colors or shapes your eye will look at the elements which are different automatically, and you can learn how to
use contrast in graphic design with this article.
Conclusion
In this post, you have learned all the color meanings in logo design and how you can use colors to convey your
brand message by using the feelings associated with colors making it easier for the viewer to associate your
brand with those qualities you want to enhance.
I hope you find this post about colors in logos useful and if you want to learn more about color in graphic
design I recommend you to read my post about color theory and learn how to combine different colors to
create harmonious color schemes or this post where I show you how to choose your brand colors. And if you
are looking to upgrade your logo design skills, in this post I show you the best Online Classes from Skillshare to
learn Logo Design.
11.Shape Psychology in Graphic Design
Shapes are a Fundamental part of Graphic Design and we are surrounded by them as all the visual objects we
see can be perceived as shapes or combination of shapes, and we can use these shapes to transmit different
feelings to the viewer as people may not notice these shapes directly but they have an important impact on
their feelings and behavior and we as graphic designers can use these elements to reinforce a message
through our design.
For many years many experts have studied how different shapes can affect people behavior and identify their
personality as every shape has its own meaning and influence differently to the viewer’s mind, this is called the
psychology of shapes and in this post, I will show you the different types of shapes, their attributes and how to
use them in Graphic Design.
Geometric Shapes Meaning
Since we were kids we already have learned what are Geometric shapes as they are the simplest and most
common shapes in graphic design, and they are formed by combining a specific amount of curves, points, and
lines. Due to their anatomy most geometric shapes are symmetrical and we can identify them easily. Let’s see
some of the most common geometric shapes we can find in graphic design.

Squares and rectangles

Squares and rectangles are the most common shapes in graphic design projects and we also can see them very
easily in live every day in street signs, shops signs or sheet of paper, and these types of shapes are the most
common in design layouts as social media headers, social media posts or business cards. Square shapes are
formed by straight lines and right angles that give viewers a sense of reliability and security and these
attributes make people feel safe and contained.
Common Square Shapes Meaning
Strength
Security
Reliability
Discipline
Triangles
A Triangle shape is a polygon with three edges and three vertices, and it’s commonly defined as an energetic
and dynamic shape, attributes that make triangles used to represent motion and direction. Depending on the
position of the triangle it can have different meanings if the triangle is upright and pointing up it represents
stability and balance, but if the position of the triangle is reversed it transmits risky feelings and instability.
Viewers eye automatically move to the top of the triangle due to the line placement, due to this quality is very
often to use skinny triangles as arrows or pointers to emphasize an important part from your design, and
related to this quality if the triangle point is facing to the right it represents a moving forward symbol.
Common Triangles Shapes Meaning
Movement
Balance
Risk
Stability

Circles, ovals, and ellipses

Circles unlike other geometric shapes don’t have angles, this fact makes these shapes softer and milder, and
commonly they have represented eternity due to they don’t have a beginning or end. In Graphic Design circles
have different uses depending on their purposes, for example in Logo Design they are the most common shape
used for the logo background or outline, and in web design circle shapes are used for small icons.
Circular shapes are one of the most popular shapes for designers because they are very noticeable and
powerful graphic elements and because they nature they represent wholeness and completion and these
attributes made them very useful shapes in any design project.
Common Circles shapes meaning
Eternity
Universe
Mystery
Earth, Moon or Sun
Pentagons, Hexagons, and Octagons
Pentagons, hexagons, and octagons are the most used polygon shapes in Graphic Design considering that
polygons are not very often used in design projects due they complexity, but we can see polygon shapes to
represent real elements from our daily lives in form of icons or logos, for example, Street signs, sections of a
beehive or bolts uses polygon shapes. These polygons due to their geometric nature are also used as puzzle
pieces to create larger compositions and organize the information in your design, and are very common in
infographic design.

Spirals
Spiral shapes are very common in real life and natural elements as shells and flowers, and spiral shapes in
graphic design are used to represent the circle of life and growth.
Growth
Intelligence
Creativity
Modernity
Natural Shapes Meaning
Natural shapes or organic shapes represent elements from nature and we can see them in the real-world as
animals, flowers, trees, or leaves, these shapes unlike geometric shapes aren’t formed by angles and points,
they are unique you can see them in tones of different forms. Unlike geometric shapes, natural shapes have a
clear meaning from the natural elements they represent as for example, a rose flower represents love or
passion. Natural shapes due to their nature also make the viewer feel a connection with the natural
environment. These types of shapes are often used in outdoor or ecological design compositions.
Common Natural Shapes meaning
Originality
Nature
Organic
Freshness
Ecological

Abstract Shapes Meaning

Abstract shapes in graphic design are visual symbols that can be abstract ideas or simplified versions of an
organic shape, in some cases abstract shapes can be difficult to associate with some ideas due to their abstract
anatomy, and in some cases, the idea is behind a small detail of the shape. Abstract shapes can have figurative
and direct meaning and these shapes are used very common in Logo Design because they are a very effective
way to create a unique look at the same time to transmit an idea through design, and if you want to learn
more about logo design, you can check this post where I show you the qualities for a good logo design.
Abstract Shapes can have infinite meanings as they literally can represent anything in any way.

Symbols and Icons

Symbols and icons are abstract shapes that represent real-life things and can have higher symbolism, and
symbols and icons are really popular in graphic design to convey messages quickly in a visual way.
Icons and symbols are very popular in an infographic design to reduce the amount of text and focus the
viewer’s attention on key parts of the design, but when you use icons you need to take care to don’t overuse
them because it can be overwhelming to viewers eye and confuse them.
Using Shapes to create Something Else
Once we already know what shapes are and the different types of them in Graphic Design, we can go to the
next level and combine all these different shapes to create new visual elements and represent real-life
elements. For example, you can create a house using rectangles, squares, and triangles or by mixing different
circular shapes we can create a bunch of grapes.

What Makes a Good Logo Design

We live in a world full of companies and brands, and everywhere we go we see hundreds of logos from
different companies, and the reality is that we forget the most part of them, but there are some brand logos
that we maintain in our head, and you might ask why this happen and how your logo design can avoid be
forgotten and stay relevant, don’t worry, on this post I will explain you the 7 secret rules to make a good logo
design.
1. Simple
The first step in creating a good logo design is to keep it simple, this point it’s directly related to memorability
because people only will spend some seconds or less looking at your logo, and in many cases, they only will see
it indirectly, and we as graphic designers need to play with that fact when designing a logo and keep it simple
to make it much easier for the viewer to memorize it. By removing extra elements and making the logo design
more simple we increase the chances of our brand logo getting in viewers head easier by reducing the number
of graphic elements to process and focusing only on the important elements of your brand.
As I mention in my post about minimalism on graphic design, we need to play with a few graphic elements to
design the perfect logo and use them wisely to encapsulate the brand’s message and personality, and how you
achieve it? by using shape psychology, color theory, and font psychology, as every graphic element, color,
shape, and font have their own meaning and personality.
A good example of simplicity in logo design is Apple’s logo, which is a bitten apple in one color, very simple
right? that’s right and it’s the key part of how everybody knows Apple Logo, due to its simplicity it makes it
easier for the viewer to memorize an apple and associate it to the brand.

2. Relevant
To make your logo design good it’s important to make it relevant and connect with your audience by looking at
it, you need to find the way your logo will speak to your audience depending on their age, education, values,
and hobbies and use design elements more appealing to them to make your logo connect better with your
audience.
The big difference between a good logo design with average one is that the good one stays on their customer’s
brain because they associate it with different feelings and emotions that your brand wants to transmit, and if
you want the perfect logo design it must stand out from your competitors to catch more attention, this will
help your logo to catch your possible customers and stay on your audience memory.
3. Memorable
Being memorable for a logo design may be the most important quality for a logo at the same time that the
most difficult to achieve, remember what we talk about in the first quality? yes, make your logo simple to help
the viewer to memorize it and have your brand logo in mind, and associate it with your company.
Create a memorable logo design might seem complex but what you need to achieve with your logo is that
people only seeing it once should be able to describe it to someone else or draw it on paper, if we can achieve
it we make sure that your logo will stay on customers mind. To keep your logo memorable it should always
create an impression to the viewer and transmit certain emotions that the viewer later can associate with your
company.

4. Timeless
This quality is really important for a good logo design and here many brands and big companies fail to achieve
it if you want a great logo design for your company it must be timeless, this means that your brand logo should
be looking good today and for the next years and avoid graphic design trends when designing a logo.
The focus when you design a logo is to showcase the brand identity and companies message using graphic
design language and avoid using trends without any connection to the brand, these design trends might be
looking good today but no one can assure you that these trends will live forever and your logo will be looking
obsolete in a short amount of time.
It’s important to say that a logo redesign or rebranding are good options regarding brands logo but constant
changes can interfere with viewers able to memorize your logo and associate with your brand. Also remark
that good logo redesign consists of updating companies logo to remove some extra elements or to adapt it to
brand’s new message, and in many cases, they maintain the most memorable element of the logo.

5. Versatile
Have you ever heard about responsive logo design? so, the fifth quality for a good logo design is that it must be
versatile when designing a logo you need to think about where it will be used and adapt it to the different
environments it will be placed in and still look good. A good logo design will work great on an Instagram profile
pic and a giant banner across the city, so you need to design your logo to be able to work well on digital
platforms like mobile or web at the same time that it will work well in printed applications.If you research
some brand style guides you will see that many logos have different variations on size or disposition having
vertical and horizontal versions at the same time that there can be color variations of the logo maintaining the
brand colors.

6. Importance of Color
As it happens with shapes and typography, each color have his own meaning and transmit different emotions,
as for example red can transmit a passion feeling and blue transmits trustworthiness. Unconsiscnes colors also
can evoke real-life elements as for example blue can be associated with water and green with nature and
forests.
There can be universal associations as the two examples mentioned before, but also there can be more
cultural associations as for example in the US green is the color of money and in Japan purple is associated
with evil, so take care about these details when designing a Logo.
As mentioned on the first quality, logos should be simple to make it easier to memorize at the same time that
it needs to transmit the brand’s message and identity, so use the color psychology to transmit the company
message, and if you want to learn more about the color theory I have a post about it!
7. Be Unique
It might be obvious, but to create a good logo design it must be unique and stand out from your competence.
As it happens with your company, you have your own message and your own identity, this must be reflected
on your logo, describe through it in what you differentiate your brand from your competitors and why the
customer should choose you! For example, if you have an airplane-related company, avoid using an airplane
illustration as to your logo because it’s too obvious and you won’t differentiate your company from other
airplane companies, instead of it, try to play with more metaphorical concepts and express with your logo
what makes your company unique!

Conclusion
In a conclusion, there no secret method with point a and point b to create a good logo design, and instead of
following design trends and obvious choices, if you have a good logo design you need to see logos as a way of
transmitting messages, use your brand logo to transmit what makes your brand unique through color, shapes,
and fonts and then you will create a unique logo design.

8 Logo Design Types

Logo design is a key branding element for any company or business and a brand logo will help a brand to
transmit its message and philosophy, but not all logos are the same, and in this blog post I will show you the 8
logo design types and how to identify them!
Emblem Logos are the oldest type of logo design and they include a symbol, font, or icon with seals, crests,
and badges. The emblem logos are perfect for a traditional look and you can see them in different
organizations, schools, government agencies, football clubs, and the auto industry.
Despite their traditional feeling many companies have effectively modernized their traditional emblems and fit
them into the 21st century, but because of their higher detailed nature and the fact that the name of the
company and their symbol are rigidly entwined, it can make emblem logos less versatile and responsive than
other logo design types.

Abstract Mark logos consist of a symbol, a pictorial logo but they avoid literal representation from any image,
instead, they create their brand logo through abstract geometric forms to symbolize their company, these
types of logo designs are unique tailor-made symbols to represent your brand.
This type of logo design works very well due to they condense your brand into a single image, but as they avoid
looking like something recognizable they are unique icons. These logos benefit is that you are able to convey
what your company does and its philosophy in a symbolical way without relying on cultural implications, they
achieve this by the use of color psychology (which you can learn in this post) and form.

Mascot Logo includes illustrated character or person who will act as a visual representation of your business,
this character illustration will be your brand spokesperson, and much advertising from this brand will be
centered around this character. Mascot logos are a great family-friendly logo option and they can help your
brand to engage with your audience and create unique branding, and usually, companies whose main audience
is families and children use these types of logo design.

Wordmark or logotype are font-based logo design type that focuses on a business name with a particular
typeface that expresses the company philosophy and feeling, and many big companies and brand use this type
of logo design for example Coca Cola, Google, or Uber. These logo design types work really well when your
company or brand has a catchy or distinct name and you can focus your branding on that memorable name,
this catchy naming combined with strong typography creates strong brand recognition. As these logos are
strongly focused on the name, they need to pick correctly their font or create a brand new one to capture the
essence of their business.
Pictorial Mark also called logo symbols are icon logos or graphics-based logos, and these logos are usually
representations of a real-world object, which could help companies to tell their story and what they do. We
can see this type of logo on brands like Twitter or Apple. These logos are only an image, and for big brands and
really known companies these logos work very well due to the emblematic branding and people can easily
identify the company by looking at their image, but this also can be a problem for new companies or brand
with low recognition to use these types of logos due that viewer can’t identity their image with their brand.

Lettermak logos also called monograms are logos that are formed by letters usually brand initials. Lettermarks
are commonly used by companies with long names with 2 or 3 words on their names, and due to branding
purposes and making their brand easy to remember they choose to represent their brand logo with their
initials. As happen with Logotypes, monograms are typography-based logos and use a few letters, which is why
is important for them to choose the right font to show what your company does and make it legible, also these
types of logo design tend to simplicity.

Combination Mark as their name indicate consist of combining a wordmark or lettermark with a pictorial
mark, abstract mark, or mascot logo. The brand image and the text with brand naming can be laid side-by-side,
stacked on top of each other, or can be integrated to create a new brand image. The combination marks are my
favorite logo design type because your brand name is easily associated with an image or your mascot logo and
their work together to reinforce your brand. As these type of logos uses an image and text it helps to associate
your brand with that image and in the future, these brand can exclude their name from the logo and only rely
exclusively on a logo symbol.

Letterforms logo design types, which are the more minimalist version of monograms, also known as letter
logos. Letterform logos only uses one letter, usually, the initial letter of the brand, and these brand marks
needs to be bold and beautiful to make it easier for the viewer to identify these single letter with your brand.
Due to their minimalistic anatomy letter logos are easily scalable and responsible, and they work perfectly
anywhere from digital scenarios to web or social media and printed materials.
6. Hierarchy
Hierarchy principle in Graphic Design stands out that the most important elements in your design also should appear to
be the most important, this help people who will see your design understand better what is the important element on it.
You easily can see a hierarchy example in titles and headings in a design.

 Typographic Hierarchy in Graphic Design

Typographic hierarchy is one of the key visual hierarchy principles in Graphic Design and it’s a fundamental element to
correctly organize the information you want to transmit with your design, that is why every designer should know how to
correctly structure your graphic design layout to allow the reader find exactly what he is looking for. On this post, I will
show you some useful guidelines about text hierarchy to master your skill in organizing the information depending on
their importance on the design, learn what are the different typographic hierarchy levels and what typographic elements
you can use to create contrast in your design layout.
Typographic hierarchy helps you to organize the information from your design layout making for the reader easy to find
the information he is looking for and focus on the most important parts of your text and which are just supporting the
main point.
The big difference between an average graphic designer and great graphic designers is that the second one understands
that graphic design is a visual way to communicate a message and prioritize it instead of just the visual aesthetic of the
design layout.
We will understand better what is typographic hierarchy with this example below where we can see two pieces of text
with the same information and amount of text, yet the left version it’s impossible to distinguish what is the text about
and the important parts of it, but on the right text we can easily see the title and the sub header making it easier to see
what the text is about, and that is called typography hierarchy.

Why is important Typography Hierarchy

Now that we understand what is typography hierarchy the question is why is important in graphic design? and the
answer is very simple, it’s a vital part to organize the information you want to communicate through your design by
importance, being the first sentence, the viewer see the title or the focal point of your design.
We can use typography hierarchy in all types of graphic design projects and web design. For example, you can use it on a
business card design to prioritize the name of the business card owner or the company followed by the contact details, in
UI/UX is used to make the viewer navigate through the site more easily and view the call to actions clearer and the last
example is poster design, you use one word or sentence really big to grab the attention of the people and making them
stop to read the rest information the poster is talking about.
Typographic Hierarchy Levels
In typographic and text hierarchy there are three different sections with a clear differentiation between them and this is
used to create a visual hierarchy in the text. The three sections of text hierarchy are Heading, Subheading and body,
graphic designers use these sections to make the design more eye-pleasing and easy to find the information you are
looking for.
1. Heading
The first section the viewer should see is the heading, that is why the most important information of your message
should be placed here and used to attract the viewer attention. Usually, the heading is used for the title and as it
contains the most important part of your text it should be the most visually stimulating element of your design using
large and bold typefaces to make the viewer stop and read the information in your design.
2. Subheading
Subheading in graphic design is used to divide your design layout into different sections to give the reader more
information about what is about the body text and expand the header information. The subheading should be visible and
stand out from the body text but still making the visual differentiation with the main header, as example you can use this
post, and as the main header is the title of the post, the article is divided into different sections with subheadings
indicating what you will read in the body text.
3. Body
Lastly but not least is the body copy, this section will include the content and that will make it text heavy, as we saw the
main function of heading and subheading is to grab the viewer attention and the main function of the body text is to
communicate the information you want, that is why is important that you use a font with good readability for the text
and the size of your body copy needs to be smaller in comparison with heading and subheading.

How To Create Typographic Hierarchy in Design Project

Now that we know the three levels of text hierarchy in graphic design, the next step is how we create this hierarchy in a
visual way and easy to differentiate each part of the text, there are plenty of graphic design techniques to do it and let’s
see the most efficient ways to create visual hierarchy in text.
1.Type Size
The first element to create text hierarchy that cames to our minds is type size, and it consists of making the most
important parts of our text larger (Heading and subheading) in comparison to the less important (body text) making the
bigger elements as a tool to grab the attention of the reader. If you want to use type size to create visual hierarchy in
your design layout you can use the traditional typographic scales present in most word processing programs and it the
scale is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 24, 30, 36, 48, 60, and 72.
2.Case
Usually, capital letters are most suitable to use as a heading or subheading as they will make the sentence more visually
important and easy to see but by another hand, they are not a good idea to use in the body text as it will negatively
affect to the readability of your design

3.Weight
Typeface weights are a great idea to create visual hierarchy in your text as making the typeface bolder or thinner will
make it easier for the viewer to organize the information in your design. It’s better to use bold typeface weight for
heading and subheading as they are more suitable to grab viewer attention and use regular or thin weights for body text
to increase the readability of your text.

4.Color
Color is also a great graphic design technique to create a visual hierarchy on the text as you can use the color contrast
principles and giving the high contrast color to the focal part of the text and you can use different shades of a specific
color to create this hierarchy, you can check this post where I show you how to use contrast in graphic design.

5.Position
The position is also a graphic design principle that you can apply to text hierarchy to organise the information across your
design layout depending on the importance of them, you can place the most important information in a prominent place
of your design to create a visual separation from the body text making for the viewer easy to identify the key elements of
your text.

6.Alignment
Alignment is related to position to create visual hierarchy in your text, you can play with the different alignment options
to create a clear difference between the heading, subheading and body text.

7.Typeface
Font pairing is also a popular technique among graphic designers to create visual hierarchy in typography and it consists
on choosing different fonts for the most prominent elements of your text (heading and subheading) which will be more
focused on grabbing viewer attention as you can use bold and decorative fonts and more readability focused font for the
body text as it will include bigger pieces of text. Make sure that the fonts that you will use for your design layout have a
reason and are aligned with the context of your design.

8.Spacing
Lastly but not least you also can use spacing as a graphic design technique to create a visual hierarchy by adding more
white space on important elements of your text as this will create more emphasis on that parts at the same time that
you will obtain a more clean look of your overall text making clear the different parts of it.

Combine Different Styling techniques

Now that you have learned the different styling techniques graphic designers have to create typographic hierarchy it’s
time to play with them, that is why you can combine different elements of text hierarchy to create the combination that
will be right for your content and design layout.
For example, you can combine type size, typeface weight and color as you see on the example below to create a visual
hierarchy in your text organising the information according to their importance and make it look better in your overall
design.

Conclusion
As we saw on this post typographic hierarchy is a key part of every graphic design project as the difference between an
average graphic designer and a good one is that the good designer focus on how his design layout communicates the
message he wants to transmit, and for that reason, you need to use text hierarchy to correctly organise the information
of your design.
In this post, I show you the text hierarchy levels and the different graphic design techniques you can use to create that
visual differentiation of text making the first sentence the reader will read the most important. Typographic hierarchy is
one of the visual hierarchy principles of graphic design and if you find this post useful and want to read more about
visual hierarchy, I recommend you this article where you will learn all the visual hierarchy principles and if you want to
make a deep look on typography design you can check this article about font psychology.

 Visual Hierarchy Principles in Graphic Design

Visual Hierarchy in Graphic Design is the way we arrange all different graphic elements from the composition and create
a visual order depending on their importance, being the most important information the first we saw in the design. The
average time people spend watching any design is 8 seconds, so that’s why visual hierarchy is important, we need to
have in mind this time when creating a design and structure correctly all elements depending on their importance to give
the viewer the main information.
1. Size and Scale
In graphic design Scale and proportion as design elements refer to the size of one graphic element in relation to another
graphic element in design or artwork. Size and scale are one of the core principles of graphic design, and they can affect
on the meaning of your design and it can help the viewer to identify easily the most important elements from your
design and focus on the main information.

2. Color and contrast

Color is one of the key elements of Graphic Design and I have a single post dedicated to color and a full guide of color
theory here!. Talking about visual hierarchy color and contrast is used in a design composition to drive the viewer’s
attention to specific graphic elements through contrasting color palettes where the most important elements use
brighter color.

How To Use Color Theory in Graphic Design

Color Theory Introduction
In this blog post, I am going to show you all you need to know about Color and color theory to help you to choose the
best color palette for your designs, and yes, Color makes a huge role in Graphic Design because every Color has a
meaning and transmit different feelings.
If you have seen any UI Design Project and you have thought of why the designer chose those colors, I will explain to you,
they chose the primary color making research of what feeling they want to transmit with their design, but they need to
choose more colors to work with their design, and those colors are chosen using the Color Wheel Theory because Not all
colors work well together and it’s important to understand how Colors interact Together.

Primary Colors
Primary colors are as I call it Prime Colors, and you can’t create primary colors by combining two colors together, and
Primary colors are the source to create the other colors, so you need to think about Primary colors as Parent colors.
The three Primary Colors are
 Red
 Yellow
 Blue
Secondary Colors
Secondary Colors are the colors created by combining two primary colors that can be the red, yellow and blue, and you
need to have in mind that secondary colors only can be formed with the purest form of each primary color, and this term
is known as a hue that we will see it later on this post, the three secondary colors are orange, blue and green. You can
create these three colors by combining these primary colors
 Red + Yellow = Orange
 Blue + Red = Purple
 Yellow + Blue = Green

Tertiary Colors
Tertiary Colors are the colors formed by combining a primary color with a secondary color, but not all primary colors can
be combined with all secondary colors, you need to choose two colors that come next to them on the color wheel to can
obtain a Tertiary Color.
Here You Can see All six tertiary colors and how to get them
 Red + Purple = Red-Purple (magenta)
  Red + Orange = Red-Orange (vermillion)
 Blue + Purple = Blue-Purple (violet)
 Blue + Green = Blue-Green (teal)
 Yellow + Orange = Yellow-Orange (amber)
 Yellow + Green = Yellow-Green (chartreuse)
Color Wheel Explained
If you had studied Painting or any lesson related to art you might have seen the color wheel, which was created in 1666
by Isaac Newton in a schematic way to mix the different colors appropriately.
And what is the color wheel? A color wheel is a tool that helps you to combine appropriately the colors, and its
represented by a circle formed by primary, secondary, and tertiary colors where you can see in a graphic way how the
different colors interact with each other.

Hue is the word used to refer to the standard set of colors in their pure form and as you can find them on the color
spectrum, the six primary and secondary colors have Hue, and not all colors have hue as white and black.
Shade is referred to the color that you get by adding black to any of the hues mentioned before.
Tint is the opposite of shade, and the tint is the color that you get by adding white to any hue, and any color has a range
of shades and tints.
Tone and saturation are synonyms but usually, the tone is used for painting and saturation for digital images, and Tone or
saturation is a color that results of mixing a pure color (hue) with any neutral/grayscale color including white and black,
so by this definition, we also consider all shades and tints to be toned.
What Are Color models (CMYK RGB)
Once we already know the definition of primary, secondary, and tertiary colors and the color wheel theory, we need to
understand that colors have two different natures, additive colors are tangible colors and subtractive colors that are
produced by light. That is why you have heard about RGB and CMYK, now let’s explain these two color models.

RGB Color Model

RGB Color model stands for Red, Green, and Blue and is mainly used for electronic displays including computers and
smartphones, and is based on the additive color model of light waves.
RGB is created by using scales from 0 to 255 in three colors R, G, and B where 0 in all of them is the lack of light and that
means the color black and where 255 is the complete light and the white color.

CMYK Color Model

CMYK Color model stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key (Black) and it is the subtractive color model and that
means that you get the colors by subtracting the light of it and it’s used in printing and that is why these colors are listed
on your ink cartridge from your printer.
CMYK works on a scale from 0 to 100 on every color mentioned before, where all of them are on 0 that means that you
didn’t subtract any light and you get white color, but where all of the colors are on 100 that mean that you have
subtracted all the light and you get the black color.

Color Harmony
Color harmony is an orderly and pleasing arrangement of the colors in design for users to feel more pleased and calm
when they see the result because not all colors work well together and when you combine not harmony colors that give
a feeling of chaos and disgust.
That is why is vital to understand how colors work together to make more attractive your design and now I will show you
the best color schemes that are proved to work effectively.
 Monochromatic
The first color scheme is the easiest one because you can’t go wrong with combine different shades and tones from one
color, and the monochromatic scheme as the name says combine different shades from one color to create an attractive
design.

 Analogous
Analogous harmony scheme is based on combined colors located right next to each other on the color wheel, and this
color scheme it’s used a lot when your design doesn’t need contrast and is used many times on web design and banners
backgrounds.

 Complementary
To create a complementary color scheme you need to combine colors placed in front of each other and this color scheme
is used to create high contrast feeling in opposition to analogous and monochromatic schemes.
 -Split-Complementary
Split Complementary color schemes is also used to create contrast feeling in your design but this color scheme uses three
colors instead of two as complementary, and you need to choose one color and pick the other two who are adjacent to
its opposite color, split complementary color scheme allows you to use more colors in your design and create a soft
contrast.

-Triadic
On Triadic color scheme, we use three colors which are equidistant on the color wheel, but when you use this color
scheme it’s important to use one color as dominant and the other two as accents to save the balance, and this color
scheme is used when your design needs more colors.

-Tetradic/Double-Complementary
Tetradic or double complementary color scheme is the most complex color scheme to use because it uses four colors
that are complementary pairs from the color wheel, this color scheme is hard to use because is difficult to balance all the
four colors, but when you if you can harmonize this color schemes the results are really beautiful and your design looks
very professional.
Color Meaning
Now as we already know how colors are formed and how to combine them properly we can talk about the meaning of
every color to help you choose what color express better your ideas for your graphic design project, let’s start!
Yellow Color Meaning
Yellow communicates hope and optimism and it’s perfect to catch the customer’s eye due to its brightness and yellow
also stimulates creativity and energy.It’s used to transmit positivity, light, warmth, creativity, and motivation.

 Orange Color Meaning

Orange is a mix of red and yellow, combining the brightness and cheer from the yellow color with the energy and
boldness from the red, that combination makes orange color full of life and exudes plenty of excitement.Color
communicates vitality, fun, playfulness, exuberance, and youthfulness.
  Red Color Meaning
Red is a really special color because it transmits a passionate feeling and visceral response, this color increases your heart
rate and breathing heavily.Red Communicates aggression, energy, provocativeness, passion, and power.

 Purple Color Meaning

Purple color is a really sophisticated color that transmits elegance and it used to symbolize royalty through history.
Purple Communicates royalty, sophistication, nostalgia, mystery, and spirituality.

 Pink Color Meaning

Pink is a really affectionate color that is used to transmit sensitive feelings and it’s often related to beauty. Pink
communicates, tenderness, sensitivity, friendship, beauty, and compassion.

 Blue Color Meaning

Blue it’s the king of the colors due to its popularity and many brands have used this color for their brand colors, and blue
it’s often related to the sky and the ocean, and it’s very popular in brand creation and identity. Blue communicated
trustworthiness, dependability, security, integrity, and calmness.

 Green Color Meaning

Green is often used to transmit calm, freshness, and health that is why many health products and natural products use
green for their brand identity. Green communicates wealth, health, serenity, prestige, and abundance.

 Brown Color Meaning

Brown, it’s not a very popular color because it can be associated with dirt, but that is not true, because brown transmits
strength and durability and it’s often related to the earth. Brown communicates earthiness, nature, simplicity, durability,
and rustic.

 Black Color Meaning

Black is also a really popular color for a brand and especially with a Clothing brand because black color evokes classic
sophistication and simplicity and it is usually used to promote luxury. Black communicates prestige, value, timelessness,
sophistication, and formality.

 White Color Meaning

White is a very popular color for brand identities of medical, bridal, and laundry industries because it represents purity
and cleanliness. White Communicate pure, noble, clean, soft, and fresh.

 Gold Color Meaning

Gold like black color symbolizes prestige and luxury and it’s why many luxury brands use gold for their brand identity, and
it’s usually associated with royalty and refinement. Gold Communicate elegance, affluence, quality, elite and idealistic.

 Gray Color Meaning

Gray and silver colors are used in different industries because these colors evoke everything from balance to simplicity,
cold temperatures, innovation, and science. Gray Communicate scientific, balance, calm, mature, and cold.

3. Typographic Hierarchy
Typographic hierarchy in graphic design is a system used to organize in a visual way using typography the order of
importance of the information shown in the design, where the title will be the most important element, and it will be
bigger than the body text, and that will help the viewer to easily identify the main topic of the design.

4. Spacing
Spacing in the visual hierarchy is used to give all your graphic elements in design more space and room to breathe, and
this will make it easier for the viewer to identify all objects in your design and order them by importance.

5. Proximity
Proximity is one of the basic graphic design principles and proximity rules in the visual hierarchy are say that things that
are related should be nearer to each other, and things that don’t have any relationship should be placed further from
each other in your design composition.

6. Alignment
Alignment in Graphic design refers to placing graphic elements and text on a page that line up with your composition.
Alignment helps you to organize your design elements and create a visual connection and make the viewer easier to
detect the most important information from your design and improve the readability of it.

7. Repetition
Repetition in graphic design refers to a process of repeating different graphic elements from your design and place them
through the design composition to give a more unified look to it and adding more consistency to your design.
8. Leading lines
Lines in graphic design are one of the basic graphic elements and they are marks used to connect two different points, in
the visual hierarchy we use leading lines in the design to direct the viewer’s eye and control their attention using lines.

9. Rule of thirds
The rule of thirds in graphic design is a common technique designer and it consists in divide the design into three rows
and three columns, and where the vertical and horizontal lines meet is where the focus points in your composition
should be placed, by doing this technique helps to make more striking effect to the viewer.

10. Perspective
Perspective in graphic design refers to the three-dimensional effect given to a flat image as design composition and
designers can use this technique to create an illusion of depth and in visual hierarchy objects closer to you drive more
attention.
Conclusion and Visual Hierarchy Infographic
Hope you find this blog post about visual hierarchy useful and help you to create better graphic design projects and learn
how to focus the most important elements from your design. If you want to learn more about visual hierarchy principles
you can check these articles.

White Space in Graphic Design

Spacing is one of the key visual hierarchy principles in graphic design used to focus on certain elements of the
design layout giving them space to breathe, in this article I will show you how to use Space in Graphic Design.
One of the key graphic elements used to create space and make your design elements breathe is Negative
Space or White Space, it’s a popular design technique also used for minimalist graphic design to maintain the
design composition clean with limited elements.
What is Spacing in Graphic Design
Space in graphic design is the distance around the area between different design elements of your
composition, and to make it clear with an example, put an image into a page, and space refers to the area that
doesn’t contain the image, also known as white space or negative space. In graphic design space is used to
separate or connect elements in your design layout, adding wide space creates emphasis on the difference
between different graphic elements of the composition and by adding more narrower space between them
creates more relationships between the elements.
Depending on the use of spacing techniques in your design layout it can help your design convey different
meanings as quality, solitude, cleanliness, purity, spirituality, openness and calmness.

What is White Space in Graphic Design

White Space, negative space or blank space in graphic design refers to the space between each graphic
element of your composition and it can have any color, texture or patterns and it’s used by graphic designers to
make breath each element of the design layout and create emphasis on certain elements of the composition.
White space is used by designers to create a visual hierarchy among the graphic elements to help the viewer
scan the design and easily identify the focal points, by adding white space in your design it also increases the
legibility and readability of your text and negative space can help you to create a minimalist design style.

How To Use White Space in Graphic Design

Now that we already know what is white space about and how it can help to create a visual hierarchy in our
design, let’s see how we can use it, but first we need to identify the different types of white space in graphic
design.
Micro White Space
When we are talking about micro whitespace we refer to the small space between graphic elements as letters,
text lines, paragraphs, buttons and icons.
Micro white space is usually used in paragraphs to improve the content legibility and help the viewer to read
faster the text with better comprehension thanks to adding margins to it as if the text goes outside the
paragraph’ it will make it harder to read for the viewer.

Macro White Space

Macro white space in graphic design refers to the space between bigger graphic elements of the design
composition as text columns and graphics. Unlike Micro White Space, macro white space acts like a big picture
white space helping as a container of the overall design as it is used as a major design layout element to
emphasize different parts of the design composition.
Active White Space
Active White Space refers to the space added in a design layout intentionally to create more focus on specific
parts of the design or content from the design, it’s called active white space as the main function of it it’s to be
noticed and create emphasis on specific elements.

Passive White Space

On other hand, passive white space is added in a more organic way between words, lines or the blank space
around a logo design, and in most cases it goes unnoticed as the main function of the passive white space is to
increase readability and comprehension of the design.

Why White Space Is Important

White space or negative space is a really important design element used to create visual hierarchy in our
design layout and can make the difference between a good design vs average design, let’s see some benefits of
using correctly white space in your design composition.
Focus
The correct use of negative space in your graphic design layout can make it easier for the viewer to identify the
important elements of it, so we can use white space to focus the eye on the content we want for the viewer to
read first.
Helps to build a hierarchy
As space is a visual hierarchy principle it allows white space to create hierarchy among the design elements
present in our composition, making our design project easier to understand and it helps to build an eye path
for the viewer to follow the content ideas in order.
Creates a certain design style
As mentioned earlier on this post, white space is key design elements for different styles as it can help your
design look more luxury, minimalist, premium or modernist by using the negative space and is a key principle
for minimalist design style which you can read more on this post.
Many luxury brands know the power of white space in graphic design as they add a lot of negative space on
the presentation of their products to give all the focus on them creating a simple design where the focus is the
product adding him premium quality traits.

Minimalism is always a trend in graphic design and it’s always associated with modern style, that is why many
brands that want to be perceived as modern make a huge use of negative space on their designs creating very
clean graphic design layouts.
Improve Comprehension
White space is a key element for graphic designers to improve comprehension and readability in a text,
especially is used micro white space for that purpose as their studies that says that good use of white space
between lines and correct margins can increase the comprehension of a text up to 20%.
Group Elements and help the user
By using white space in a graphic design layout makes it easier for the viewer to identify groups of elements
and make a logical order. By adding negative space to a design composition, we can easily differentiate
different parts of the design that can include images, text or branding elements.
Adds emphasis
Lastly but not least white space is used in graphic design to add emphasis to certain parts of the design making
that part easily identifiable and clearly visible by adding more space, for example think about logos, adding
more space around it helps to add more focus on your brand.
8 Basic Design Principles to Help You Create
Better Graphics
Graphic design is a highly sought-after skill. Society cares about the way things look, and there is a constant
need to produce high-quality design, whether it’s for advertisements, websites, logos, videos, or web content.
You don’t need to be a pro-designer to create highly shareable content—especially when adding design
elements to photos you already have is as easy as a couple taps on your phone. Still slick tools are only part of
the puzzle; you still need to develop an eye for what works visually and what detracts from your message. Here
are eight basic design principles to keep in mind when working with visuals and creating graphics.
1. Alignment
Alignment is an important fundamental of design, since it helps create a sharp, ordered appearance by
ensuring the elements have a pleasing connection with each other. Aligning objects properly will clean up a
design and eliminate the messiness or sloppiness that can occur when elements are placed randomly. In Spark
Post, it’s easy to align elements in relation to each other or to your background photo thanks to the dotted line
that appears when you move blocks of texts or shapes. The app will let you know when you’ve lined up your
text or shapes in the middle of your design and with the edges of other elements in your graphic.
2. Hierarchy
Utilizing this principle in your design starts with your message first and the goals of your design. Figure out
what the most important piece of info is first. Perhaps you want the main message of your design to be a
quote, but you also want to let viewers know how to follow you or that you have a sale. Visually establish your
main message as the focal point with larger text or shapes to make it pop and then include your secondary
message in a way that doesn’t overpower.
3. Contrast
Contrast is an important principle of design because it lets you draw out the most important elements of a
design and add emphasis. Contrast happens when two design elements are in opposition to each other, like
black and white, thick and thin, modern and traditional, etc. Contrast is what helps guide the viewer’s eyes to
the most important parts of your design and helps organize the information in an easily digestible manner.

4. Repetition
Repetition is an important design basic because it helps strengthen the overall look of the design. It also ties
together different elements to help them remain organized and more consistent. Consistency and repetition is
especially important in branding because you want your particular look to be instantly recognizable.
On her site’s homepage, she repeats a pink bar across the top of every page and in the sidebar (pictured
above) to create cohesion.
Proximity is also helpful in creating organization on a page, since similar or related elements should be grouped
together to create a relationship between them. Ideally you might cluster the elements together in a way that
helps to declutter the overall design. The elements don’t need to be clustered together for placement, either
— proximity could mean they are connected visually another way, such as by color, font, type, size etc. Look at
how our own Brian Nemhauser, the voice behind Hawkblogger, groups consistent shapes and fonts next to
each other to highlight a player’s stats.

6. Balance
Balance gives a design its form and stability and helps to distribute the elements evenly throughout your
design; this even spacing will offer an appearance that is professional and attractive instead of being jumbled
and messy. Balance doesn’t mean elements need to be the same size, or that they must be distributed evenly
across the page — it can be symmetrical or asymmetrical. Symmetrical balance weights the elements evenly
on either sides of the design, while asymmetrical uses contrast to even out the flow of design (i.e. dark
elements are balanced out by light ones).
7. Color
Color is a significant part of design and should be considered carefully each time you start a new design. Colors
are largely responsible for dictating the mood of a design — each color has something a little different to say.
Green tends to make people think of non-profits or the environment, while red causes stormy emotions like
anger, blue is more calming and passive, and yellow creates a sensation of happiness. You don’t need to study
color theory to get it right—Spark Post suggests color combinations based on the image you begin with.
To aid legibility, consider adding a gradient background behind text, especially if your text color is at all similar.
It will help make your words pop.

8. Space
The parts of your design you choose to leave blank are just as important as the ones you’re filling with colors,
text and images. Negative space creates shape and can help highlight the most important pieces of information
in your design. Never underestimate the power of simplicity.

Just as developing an ear for good storytelling comes down to recognizing what resonates in other people’s
work, developing an eye for visuals starts with identifying these basic principles. What makes you engage with
a piece of content or out in the world? What elements draw you in and what missteps turn you off? Think
about these questions and you’ll be on your way to creating cool designs.
What is Design Thinking and Why Is It So Popular?
Design Thinking is not an exclusive property of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science,
engineering, and business have practiced it. So, why call it Design Thinking? What’s special about Design
Thinking is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply these
human-centered techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way—in our designs, in our
businesses, in our countries, in our lives.
Some of the world’s leading brands, such as Apple, Google and Samsung, rapidly adopted the design thinking
approach, and leading universities around the world teach the related methodology—including Stanford,
Harvard, Imperial College London and the Srishti Institute in India. Before you incorporate design thinking into
your own workflows, you need to know what it is and why it’s so popular. Here, we’ll cut to the chase and tell
you what design thinking is all about and why it’s so in demand.
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is an iterative process in which you seek to understand your users, challenge assumptions,
redefine problems and create innovative solutions which you can prototype and test. The overall goal is to
identify alternative strategies and solutions that are not instantly apparent with your initial level of
understanding. Design thinking is more than just a process; it opens up an entirely new way to think, and it
offers a collection of hands-on methods to help you apply this new mindset.
In essence, design thinking:
Revolves around a deep interest to understand the people for whom we design products and services. Helps us
observe and develop empathy with the target users. Enhances our ability to question: in design thinking you
question the problem, the assumptions and the implications. Proves extremely useful when you tackle
problems that are ill-defined or unknown. Involves ongoing experimentation through sketches, prototypes,
testing and trials of new concepts and ideas.
Design thinking is an iterative and non-linear process that contains five phases: 1. Empathize, 2. Define, 3.
Ideate, 4. Prototype and 5. Test. You can carry these stages out in parallel, repeat them and circle back to a
previous stage at any point in the process. The core purpose of the process is to allow you to work in a
dynamic way to develop and launch innovative ideas.

Design Thinking Makes You Think Outside the Box

Design thinking can help people do out-of-the-box or outside-the-box thinking. People who use this
methodology: Attempt to develop new ways of thinking—ways that do not abide by the dominant or more
common problem-solving methods. Have the intention to improve products, services and processes. They seek
to analyze and understand how users interact with products to investigate the conditions in which they
operate. Ask significant questions and challenge assumptions. One element of outside-the-box / out-of-the-
box thinking is to falsify previous assumptions—i.e., make it possible to prove whether they’re valid or not. As
you can see, design thinking offers us a means to think outside the box and also dig that bit deeper into
problem-solving. It helps us carry out the right kind of research, create prototypes and test our products and
services to uncover new ways to meet our users’ needs.
The Grand Old Man of User Experience, Don Norman, who also coined the very term User Experience, explains
what Design Thinking is and what’s so special about it:“…the more I pondered the nature of design and
reflected on my recent encounters with engineers, business people and others who blindly solved the
problems they thought they were facing without question or further study, I realized that these people could
benefit from a good dose of design thinking. Designers have developed a number of techniques to avoid being
captured by too facile a solution. They take the original problem as a suggestion, not as a final statement, then
think broadly about what the real issues underlying this problem statement might really be (for example by
using the "Five Whys" approach to get at root causes). Most important of all, is that the process is iterative and
expansive. Designers resist the temptation to jump immediately to a solution to the stated problem. Instead,
they first spend time determining what the basic, fundamental (root) issue is that needs to be addressed. They
don't try to search for a solution until they have determined the real problem, and even then, instead of
solving that problem, they stop to consider a wide range of potential solutions. Only then will they finally
converge upon their proposal. This process is called "Design Thinking."— Don Norman, Rethinking Design
Thinking
Design Thinking is for Everybody
How many people are involved in the design process when your organization decides to create a new product
or service? Teams that build products are often composed of people from a variety of different departments.
For this reason, it can be difficult to develop, categorize and organize ideas and solutions for the problems you
try to solve. One way you can keep a project on track, and organize the core ideas, is to use a design thinking
approach—and everybody can get involved in that!
Tim Brown, CEO of the celebrated innovation and design firm IDEO, emphasizes this in his successful book
Change by Design when he says design thinking techniques and strategies belong at every level of a business.
Design thinking is not only for designers but also for creative employees, freelancers and leaders who seek to
infuse it into every level of an organization. This widespread adoption of design thinking will drive the creation
of alternative products and services for both business and society.
“Design thinking begins with skills designers have learned over many decades in their quest to match human
needs with available technical resources within the practical constraints of business. By integrating what is
desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable, designers
have been able to create the products we enjoy today. Design thinking takes the next step, which is to put
these tools into the hands of people who may have never thought of themselves as designers and apply them
to a vastly greater range of problems.”— Tim Brown, Change by Design, Introduction

Design thinking techniques and strategies belong at every level of a business. You should involve colleagues
from a wide range of departments to create a cross-functional team that can utilize knowledge and experience
from different specialisms.
Tim Brown also shows how design thinking is not just for everybody—it’s about everybody, too. The process is
firmly based on how you can generate a holistic and empathic understanding of the problems people face.
Design thinking involves ambiguous, and inherently subjective, concepts such as emotions, needs, motivations
and drivers of behavior. In a solely scientific approach (for example, analyzing data), people are reduced to
representative numbers, devoid of emotions. Design thinking, on the other hand, considers both quantitative
as well as qualitative dimensions to gain a more complete understanding of user needs. For example, you
might observe people performing a task such as shopping for groceries, and you might talk to a few shoppers
who feel frustrated with the checkout process at the store (qualitative data). You can also ask them how many
times a week they go shopping or feel a certain way at the checkout counter (quantitative data). You can then
combine these data points to paint a holistic picture of user pain points, needs and problems. Tim Brown sums
up that design thinking provides a third way to look at problems. It’s essentially a problem-solving approach
that has crystallized in the field of design to combine a holistic user-centered perspective with rational and
analytical research—all with the goal to create innovative solutions.
“Design thinking taps into capacities we all have but that are overlooked by more conventional problem-
solving practices. It is not only human-centered; it is deeply human in and of itself. Design thinking relies on
our ability to be intuitive, to recognize patterns, to construct ideas that have emotional meaning as well as
functionality, to express ourselves in media other than words or symbols. Nobody wants to run a business
based on feeling, intuition, and inspiration, but an overreliance on the rational and the analytical can be just as
dangerous. The integrated approach at the core of the design process suggests a ‘third way.’”— Tim Brown,
Change by Design, Introduction
Design Thinking Has a Scientific Side
Design thinking is both an art and a science. It combines investigations into ambiguous elements of the
problem with rational and analytical research—the scientific side in other words. This magical concoction
reveals previously unknown parameters and helps to uncover alternative strategies which lead to truly
innovative solutions. The scientific activities analyze how users interact with products, and investigate the
conditions in which they operate. They include tasks which:
 Research users’ needs.
 Pool experience from previous projects.
 Consider present and future conditions specific to the product.
 Test the parameters of the problem.
 Test the practical application of alternative problem solutions.
Once you arrive at a number of potential solutions, the selection process is then underpinned by rationality.
As a designer, you are encouraged to analyze and falsify these solutions to arrive at the best available option
for each problem or obstacle identified during phases of the design process.
With this in mind, it may be more correct to say design thinking is not about thinking outside the box, but on
its edge, its corner, its flap, and under its bar code—as Clint Runge put it.
Resetting Our Mental Boxes and Developing a Fresh Mindset
Thinking outside of the box can provide an innovative solution to a sticky problem. However, thinking outside
of the box can be a real challenge as we naturally develop patterns of thinking that are modeled on the
repetitive activities and commonly accessed knowledge, we surround ourselves with.
Some years ago, an incident occurred where a truck driver tried to pass under a low bridge. But he failed, and
the truck was lodged firmly under the bridge. The driver was unable to continue driving through or reverse
out. The story goes that as the truck became stuck, it caused massive traffic problems, which resulted in
emergency personnel, engineers, firefighters and truck drivers gathering to devise and negotiate various
solutions for dislodging the trapped vehicle.
Emergency workers were debating whether to dismantle parts of the truck or chip away at parts of the bridge.
Each spoke of a solution that fitted within his or her respective level of expertise. A boy walking by and
witnessing the intense debate looked at the truck, at the bridge, then looked at the road and said
nonchalantly, “Why not just let the air out of the tires?” to the absolute amazement of all the specialists and
experts trying to unpick the problem.
When the solution was tested, the truck was able to drive free with ease, having suffered only the damage
caused by its initial attempt to pass underneath the bridge. The story symbolizes the struggles we face where
oftentimes the most obvious solutions are the ones hardest to come by because of the self-imposed
constraints we work within.
Newspaper article showing a truck stuck under a bridge.
It’s often difficult for us humans to challenge our assumptions and everyday knowledge because we rely on
building patterns of thinking in order to not have to learn everything from scratch every time. We rely on doing
everyday processes more or less unconsciously—for example, when we get up in the morning, eat, walk, and
read—but also when we assess challenges at work and in our private lives. In particular, experts and specialists
rely on their solid thought patterns, and it can be very challenging and difficult for experts to start questioning
their knowledge.
Stories Have the Power to Inspire
Why did we tell you this story about the truck and the bridge? Well, it’s because stories can help us inspire
opportunities, ideas and solutions. Stories are framed around real people and their lives and are important
because they’re accounts of specific events, not general statements. They provide us with concrete details
which help us imagine solutions to particular problems.
Stories also help you develop the eye of a designer. As you walk around the world, you should try to look for
the design stories that are all around you. Say to yourself “that’s an example of great design” or “that's an
example of really bad design” and try to figure out the reasons why. When you come across something
particularly significant, make sure you document it either through photos or video. This will prove beneficial
not only to you and your design practice but also to others—your future clients, maybe.
The Take Away
Design Thinking: A Non-Linear process. Empathy helps define problem, Prototype sparks a new idea, tests
reveal insights that redefine the problem, tests create new ideas for project, learn about users (empathize)
through testing
Design Thinking is an iterative and non-linear process. This simply means that the design team continuously
uses their results to review, question and improve their initial assumptions, understandings and results. Results
from the final stage of the initial work process inform our understanding of the problem, help us determine
the parameters of the problem, enable us to redefine the problem, and, perhaps most importantly, provide us
with new insights so we can see any alternative solutions that might not have been available with our previous
level of understanding.
Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that consists of 5 phases: 1. Empathize, 2. Define, 3. Ideate, 4.
Prototype and 5. Test. You can carry out the stages in parallel, repeat them and circle back to a previous stage
at any point in the process—you don’t have to follow them in order.
It’s a process that digs a bit deeper into problem-solving as you seek to understand your users, challenge
assumptions and redefine problems. The design thinking process has both a scientific and artistic side to it, as
it asks us to understand and challenge our natural, restrictive patterns of thinking and generate innovative
solutions to the problems our users face. Design thinking is essentially a problem-solving approach that has the
intention to improve products. It helps you access and analyze known aspects of a problem and identify the
more ambiguous or peripheral factors that contribute to the conditions of a problem. This contrasts with a
more scientific approach where the concrete and known aspects are tested in order to arrive at a solution. The
iterative and ideation-oriented nature of design thinking means we constantly question and acquire knowledge
throughout the process. This helps us redefine a problem so we can identify alternative strategies and
solutions that aren’t instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. Design thinking is often referred
to as outside-the-box thinking, as designers attempt to develop new ways of thinking that do not abide by the
dominant or more common problem-solving methods—just like artists do. The design thinking process has
become increasingly popular over the last few decades because it was key to the success of many high-profile,
global organizations. This outside-the-box thinking is now taught at leading universities across the world and is
encouraged at every level of business. “The ‘Design Thinking’ label is not a myth. It is a description of the
application of well-tried design process to new challenges and opportunities, used by people from both design
and non-design backgrounds. I welcome the recognition of the term and hope that its use continues to expand
and be more universally understood, so that eventually every leader knows how to use design and design
thinking for innovation and better results.”— Bill Moggridge, co-founder of IDEO, in Design Thinking: Dear Don