By profession, I am a content writer. Since I am passionate about everything that I put out there, designing images is something that I normally do it myself.

But as you might have guessed after every image, I think, ‘Gosh! I wish I could be better at it!’ And one fine morning, while at a conference, an expert graphic designer shared some mind-blowing tips with me.

And guess what, since I am in a good mood today, I would love to share those valuable tips with you.

1. Matching Colors with the Design

There is nothing more frustrating than finding the right colors for your design.

But what you can do is to ask around and request your friends to consult you with colors.

If you are good with colors, that’s a plus point. But normally it is a good practice to ask people around you because online there will be people who don’t know you but will judge you by the colors on your website.

For people like me who are not good with colors, you can surely use color picker Chrome extension to understand how each color will look on the website.  

This will give you an idea of how to play with the colors so that every color that you use on the website says something about your brand.

2. Grids Make Images Unique

If you apply a grid to an image, it automatically looks and feels different than others.

A similar thing will happen when a visitor lands on your website and see an image with a grid. It will drive more attention than a normal image.

For every important image, you can use a grid to make it unique. All eyes will be on that image because something is different about that image.

You cannot tell it, nor does your visitor, but a grid can make your image stand out from the rest of the images on the website.

3. Transparent Icons is a game-changer

Do you know what’s special about transparency? Whether you use it in real life or on an image, it makes people look at things with clarity.

When you use transparent icons on a website, it will be easy to differentiate the background from the actual icons. 

The good thing is that in a custom web development & design you can experiment with a lot of transparent icons and monitor the response of each image. Experiment as much as you can and there will be a time when you’ll start realizing the power of transparency not just in your icons, but in every image that you put out there.

4. Crop Images to Reveal the Content Copy

Do you think that cropping an image can do you any good? Of course, it can. Maybe, you are just viewing it as an incomplete image but for a visitor, the text is not aligned right.

What you need is to crop off those images to fit the size of your visitor. Do it in such a way that the content on the image remains the core focus on your user.

So, next time you see a cropped image in a photo, don’t think that it’s a mistake, take it as an inspiration and use it in your next image.

5. Consistency will support your branding

Have you ever imagined how you can recognize some brands just from their logos? Or at times from the typography, they use for their brand?

That’s because great brands believe inconsistency. When you get consistent about anything, there is a greater chance that people will notice you.

For your graphic to stand out, you must use consistency in your images.

Whether you are designing a logo or a brochure for a client, some elements must remain consistent in the image.

This consistency in your images will be recognized from a mile away. Just like writers can be identified from their writing style, graphic designers can also be recognized with the consistency of elements: colors, fonts, contrast, and everything in-between.

If you are willing to stand out from the crowd, ensure that you use elements that can become your identity. People recognize your design just with the elements that you use in the images.

6. Never Ignore those themed images

Do you design your seasonal profile photos or cover photos? Say for Christmas or a personal achievement or something that you are proud of.

If you haven’t done anything like this, now is the time to start doing it.

Forget those boring images and turn them into themed photos. In this way whoever is looking for a designer, can contact you based upon the work you have on your profile.

Moreover, you’ll get diversity to work with. You’ll be able to design some themed images and use them on your social media platforms.

You can do the same for a client.

In a Nutshell

It is all about constant learning. It’s not just about graphic designing, it is about updating your skills as per the need of the market.

If you don’t learn fast and break some rules it will be impossible for you to stay ahead of other graphic designers.

There is a tough completion out there and if you are not willing to use these hacks to progress, there is not a chance that you’ll survive or grow as much as you think.

Author Bio:

Irfan Ak is a digital marketing strategist at Branex Inc. He is also a writer & guest blogger on various websites. He has worked with various other brands and created value for them.