For non-designers in Gresham, Oregon, learn seven layout tips to help make your Facebook ads, website, logo, and cultural assets look like they were designed by a qualified professional.

And if you aren't a professional graphic designer, have you ever had to make designs?

Social media pros also build artistic elements that go with organic posts and paid advertising.

SEOs may design banner advertising and call-outs.

Content marketers design featured photos and may even whip up infographics of their own.

The entire website could be designed by entrepreneurs and business owners, etc.

For any digital marketer to have in their back pocket, graphic design is a valuable ability.

And even though you have no experience in graphic design, it's possible to produce professional-looking designs.

Here are seven tips to help produce compelling ideas for you, the non-designer.

#1: White Space Mastery

The graphics and typography tend to get all the attention when making a template.

The areas without graphics and text are just as critical, and one of the factors that distinguish amateurish designs from professional ones is to give space for your design to breathe.

The region between and around design elements is white space (a.k.a., negative space), and it isn't always white (it can be any color, pattern, or even an image).

The straightforward rule of thumb is this: Don't overcrowd the elements you have. 

#2: Stick with two simple-to-read fonts

If it comes to choosing fonts, readability is the most important thing to concentrate on.

A beautiful font that is very hard to read does your template a disservice.

Often opt for transparent fonts with crystal.

Try, moreover, to stick to two fonts.

Other than that, confusion is created; too many fonts can make it difficult to read your design and make it look like an amateur created it.

You can use one for headings and the other for body text if you choose two fonts.

Select a font that aligns with the tone/voice of your brand.

The font that a fashion boutique could use in their digital marketing, for example, is probably vastly different from what a tech company could choose.

No matter what font you select, you can change the kerning, tracking, and leading to give you more malleability with your designs.

#3: Always keep an eye on alignment

Another thing that distinguishes the amateur from professional-looking designs? Alignment.

When you match the elements of the template, never eyeball and guess.

Many design programs display lines that let you know when your text boxes or graphics are matched or to see for yourself, and you can toggle grid lines.

You can always add one if your software doesn't have a choice for using grid lines.

Upload a grid vector picture and send it to the back of your layout.

Then, erase the grid when everything's in alignment.

#4: Consider the effect of colors on the psychological perspective

They must represent the tone of your brand when designing your brand's color palette.

Colors elicit numerous emotions psychologically:

• Blue: faith, comfort, defense, and relaxation.
• Purple: novelty, abundance, and mystery.
• Green: Wealth, health, and refreshment:
• Pink: femininity, youth, and romance.
• Orange: excitement and capacity.
• Yellow: spontaneity, optimism.
• Red: drive and passion.
• Black: refinement, luxury, and strength.
• White: cleanliness and purity.
• Grey: professionalism and gravity.

Holding the feelings that the color palette of your brand evokes in mind when designing designs is vital.

As an example, take the color blue.

It's no wonder that financial brands like Chase, PayPal, Venmo, and Visa all use blue as their primary color, given that it's the color of confidence and security.

Think of what you want to tell your customers about the colors of your company.

From your company logo to your website design, you can use color psychology in anything.

#5: Build a Palette of Colors

 Besides thinking about the psychology of color, to build an overall palette for your website and designs, you have to think about how colors communicate with each other.

The color wheel from Adobe is a handy tool that lets you build a color palette quickly.

• Analog Palette of Colors

To produce a monochromatic look, this color palette uses colors next to the base color on the color wheel.

• Palette with Complementary Colors

A complementary color palette uses the base color and the exact opposite of that color to produce contrast by using one as the dominant and the accent as the other.

• Color Palette Triad

Three colors equally distributed on the color wheel are pulled from a triad color palette.

• Monochromatic Palette of Color

The hue, tone, or tint of the primary color are all the colors in this palette.

• Palette of Compound Colors

A compound color palette combines, without too much contrast, the two hues that are opposite to the primary color.

#6: Mind the Text Limitations of Facebook in Ad Images

If the graphic you make is for a Facebook ad, you'll want to be aware of Facebook's 20 percent text rule for advertising in the news feed.

Any ad photo must not surpass 20 percent text, as the name suggests.

If you design a picture for an ad, keep this rule in mind from the beginning. Later on, it will save you from all the hassles.

#7: Make sure there's a visual aspect to your Brand Style Guide.

It is imperative to create a brand style guide, as it ensures that everyone is on the same page (no pun intended) and to create aesthetically consistent designs.

A style guide's visual section should include items such as:

• A typeface library.
• A color palette, along with each color's hex, CMYK, and RGB codes.
• A choice of brand logo(s) to choose from.
• Brand properties and images that are included in designs daily.
• Related guidelines on how/when to use those colors, fonts, sizes, etc.

Finalization 

It doesn't take a designer in Gresham, Oregon to produce a design that looks professional.

To impact your designs, use these design tips for non-designers, and no one ever needs to know that you are self-taught!

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