Effective Graphic Design Techniques – Part 2 of 6

Posted by Shawn on March 28, 2011. Categories: Creative

WHO’S ON FIRST?

Almost any designed communication can be broken down into three categories: The big news, the details, and the who/what/where. For example, the big news might be, “Party this weekend.” It’s usually most effective if the big news is simple, and has the prominent position on your page. Professionals usually think of that as the 3 second message you have to communicate before the reader moves on. The details are usually an expanded version of the big news without too much detail. It might be something like, “Get ready to party on Saturday evening with all your old friends and some new ones. Great music, great food and much more. Be there!” The who/what/where is something like, “Saturday at 6PM. Davis and Mary’s place. 123 Main Street. 555.1234. dave&mary@email.com” The above example is pretty basic, and likely obvious as well (we’ve all done a flyer for a bake sale at some time in our lives), but the same rules can be applied to more challenging communications. Start with the big news, and drill down from there.

Look for my next blog post, entitled “Everything has it’s place – Part 3 of 6″.

-Shawn