0

10 EPIC Graphic Design Tips (For Bloggers and Non Designers)

Starting a new blog that you want to design EPIC graphics for?

Do you have an existing blog that you’ve DIY designed graphics for (that you’re embarrassed to even show online)..

If you fall into either one of those categories then keep reading to uncover 11 EPIC graphic design tips for bloggers that I believe are super important.

Because here’s the thing:

Apart from writing content for your blog, it’s important to incorporate pictures, GIFs and a variety of graphic designs within your blog.

To be honest with you…

It took me a while to get things in order from a graphic design and branding perspective.  In this post, I’m putting together a round up of 12 EPIC graphic design tips for bloggers, and DIY’ers that are essential:

Useful Graphic Design Tips for Bloggers, DIYers & Solopreneurs

#1:  Select a unique theme/style for your distinct blog

This is probably the most important tip for beginners. Before creating your blog, think about the theme you want to establish. Every blogger has a unique style that he/she identifies with.

Use your identity to create an exceptional brand that will capture people’s attention. To do this, you have to ask yourself: what makes me unique?

Understanding your strong selling points will put you one step closer to designing graphics and other memorable marketing collateral that help you stand out online. Apart from looking good, your blog should also mirror your personality.

Here’s an example from Angela at Straycurls.com:

I absolutely adore the graphic design and branding from Angela… as its super playful, full of creativity and has color a color palette that you can’t miss.

 

#2:  Use an outstanding color scheme

You might be wondering: is color that important when designing my blog?

It’s crucial to choose an exquisite color scheme because it reflects your unique brand. If you’ve noticed, every major brand use a color palette that make them stand out. 

There are numerous sites that offer exquisite color palettes online, so you don’t have to struggle selecting your brand colors. These color palettes are usually indicated using hex codes, so it’s important to familiarize yourself with the basics.

Here’s a graphic design tip that could help:

Use two or three contrasting colors when designing your blog.

 

#3:  Be consistent in your designs

When it comes to graphic design for branding, consistency is key. You should maintain the style and quality of your design elements throughout your blog.

For instance, if you select purple for your blog header design, use the same color for all your headers. Likewise, you should use similar effects (such as image filters) when creating your blog designs.

You should be consistent not only in quality but also in proportion, framing and even lighting. Your followers will love your consistency and it will help your brand stand out from the “sea” of other brands.

 

#4:  Choose great typography

This is definitely the best graphic design tips for bloggers. Selecting the right typography for your graphics will help improve your brand image.

If you’re unfamiliar with this term, no worries.  Typography simply encompasses typefaces (aka fonts).  Believe me….using the right typeface for graphic design is super important.

 

Plus its good to remember, the font style that you choose should compliment the overall theme of your blog. If you’ve decided to create a feminine blog, select colors and typefaces that are in tandem with your feminine theme.

Pink or purple shades would certainly blend well in this situation. You should also try selecting fonts that are simple and easy to read– so that your audience wont struggle to understand your designs.

 

#5:  Use infographics, icons and other graphic elements on your blog

Want to create a lasting impression among your followers and blog visitors?

Cool…

Then its best to use visual elements more frequently in your blog posts…

You see:

The human mind tends to recall information more easily when it’s presented in a visually appealing manner. In light of this fact, creating infographics and adding other visual elements to your blog will encourage more people to interact with your blog.

And here’s the thing:

Creating infographics, other visual elements is easy peasy using graphic design tools like canva that will surely impress your visitors. In case you’re not aware, Canva is an amazing DIY design tool jam packed with templates that you can edit and customize to match your branding.  You can head here to learn more about Canva!

Some other visually appealing design elements that you can add to your blog include icons, GIFs and time-lapse videos. Icons are often used to draw people’s attention, prompting them to follow your brand’s social networks.

However, one thing to keep in mind is that you must design graphics that are informative, interesting and attractive that will enhance your blog.

 

#6:  Align your design elements properly

Today, design has been simplified by a plethora of online tools such as Canva. These tools contain numerous images and pre-designed templates that often require minimal editing or retouching.

Here’s something to remember:

The best way possible to make sure that your design elements mesh well is by adding them to a style guide template or using an online resource tool like Trello.

Aligning your design elements not only makes your brand cohesive but it also will help you put consistent + professional looking brand images out there to the world. 

 

#7:  Use limited fonts

 

When you’re designing your blog, its best to avoid getting carried away with the vast assortment of available fonts. I’ve mentioned in a previous post that its best to use 2-3 fonts in your blog (and graphic designs).

Using three or more fonts will only make your blog look amateurish and distracting. However, limiting your font styles will reduce the inconvenience of having to select the best font combination for your blog.

When choosing the most appropriate font for your site, select one that’s simple and legible. Although aesthetics matter, readers are more interested in getting meaningful content from your blog. 

 

#8: Add calls to actions or URL’s to your graphics (where applicable)

 

Here’s the thing:

You have to think of all of the graphics that you design for your blog as a piece of “marketing collateral“. It doesnt matter if its a blog graphic, infographic or an animated graphic…

Anytime that you are creating a “brand asset” for your blog, its a great idea to call peeps to action.  

For example,

Here is a graphic that I created to promote my Elegant eBooks workshop a while back in Canva.

At the bottom of the graphic I added a “call to action” that is asking anyone that sees it online to “click here to learn more“. This basically instructs folks that see the graphic that are interested in the Elegant eBooks Workshop to check it out.

It’s little things like this that can actually get peeps to take action when they see your graphics online. 

#9: Keep your pulse on the “latest” design trends

Peeps this is super easy to do.  Thanks to the good ole “web” there are a ton of places that you can source great information from to keep up with graphic design trends.

A few of my favorite places to check out the latest design trends are Behance.

Here’s why:

Behance is one of the largest platforms dedicated to showcasing professional design work. 

This website is chocked full of design inspiration that you can use for your own graphic design projects.  Some of the other places that you can look into for design inspiration are Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube and of course checking out covers of beautiful magazines.

#10:  Use tools that make designing easy

Listen:

Photoshop is great but I dont want to spend all day with trying to design graphics from scratch.

Fortunately for us bloggers, solopreneurs and DIYers, platforms like Canva, PicMonkey and Adobe Spark graphic design projects have NEVER been easier.

Think about it…

Most “seasoned” graphic designers have to start from scratch.  However, with the aforementioned platforms, you are simply a “template” away from designing beautiful graphics.

Canva is undoutedbly my favorite DIY design platform. 

In fact, all of the pre-made design kits that I’ve created in my shop and even some of the workshops that I’ve created in the Blazing Branding Academy focus on advanced graphic design with this tool…

DIY Graphic Design for Bloggers and Non Designers (Made Easy)

If you are starting or running a blog that you want to create EPIC graphics for then I invite you to checkout these pre-made Canva graphics kits and DIY workshops in the Blazing Branding Academy.

The Canva Graphics kit has 10 pre-made graphics that you can download and customize in Canva. Oh and for you DIY’ers The Blazing Branding Academy has over 24+ workshops, courses and templates that you can use to learn how to design beautiful graphics that you can be proud to promote online.

Thanks for reading peeps!