Common design mistakes you should avoid

Back on another post, I was talking about the number mistake that novice designers usually make (centering text).

Picking up from this post, I’ve decided to explore a few more design mistakes that every novice makes.

So, what’s the worst that can happen if you make these? Well, most of these will lead to one thing: design chaos.

Top design mistakes to avoid

1. Not enough white space
2. Too many colors on a page
3. Rules of typography not followed
4. Hard to read font and inappropriate type choice
5. Too many fonts on one page (3-4 are a maximum)
6. Limiting your font choices to Arial, Helvetica and Times
7. Excessive use of filters and effects
8. No visual hierarchy
9. Lack of contrast
10. Using display type (even worse: CAPITALIZING the letters!)
11. Lack of consistency
12. Centered text and graphics
13. Un-cropped, horizontally or vertically flipped, or unbalanced scaled photos
14. Rivers, windows and orphans
15. Using clip arts
16. Mixing clip arts and photographs
17. Dark backgrounds with reverse body text
18. Italics (obliques) & underlining
19. Visual clutter (busy layouts)
20. Using similar but not identical photographs, type and colors

Technorati Tags: Color Theory, Design Theory, Print Design, Typography

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