Even if you're just coming out of high school, there's a good chance you've been asked to design something, like a presentation, a card, or even just a title page. If you’re looking to turn that creative spark into a career, Centennial’s Graphic Design program can help you get there. Located in Toronto at the Story Arts Centre, the program boasts a graduate employment rate that exceeds 80 per cent, and will prepare you for a multidisciplinary design career. It also provides a hands-on learning experience in a studio environment, giving your direct access to industry-standard graphic design tools like Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. For now, here are some well-known examples of graphic design pitfalls to avoid, so you don’t wind up making something that looks like those "graphic design is my passion" memes.
Sticking with your first idea
This one comes straight from the teachers in our Graphic Design program.
"The most common mistake I see our students make is not exploring enough during the early creative development stage of a project," says professor Lisa Rebnord. "Students tend to stop at one idea, one typeface, one colour palette, and not explore other creative possibilities. This limits their growth and in the long term, their success as original, creative designers."
Bahar Nasirzadeh, program coordinator and professor in the Graphic Design program, concurs.
"One of the most common mistakes I see our students make is overlooking the value of feedback and iteration in the design process," he explains. "Some may not see the point in exploring multiple typographic options or experimenting with colours, while others may feel their initial idea is 'good enough.' It is crucial to constantly refine ideas based on the given problem to effectively meet client goals and expectations. Iteration isn’t just about making changes—it’s a process of discovery that leads to the most impactful and creative solutions."
And without that feedback, you’re prone to make mistakes like these:
Font problems
You may not think about it, but text fonts are a big deal in the design world, and there's more to it than just hating Comic Sans (which you should never, ever use for anything ever.) Too many fonts will make a document or project look too busy, and our sources recommend you only pick one or two fonts per job. As for which fonts you should be using, a lot of the more elaborate scripts can be difficult to read, so you’ll want to aim for legibility, saving the fancier patterns simply for titles or headers.
Another thing to watch out for? Kerning, which refers to the spaces between letters and words. Poor kerning can make text difficult to read, so aim for a clean, simple design that ensures your message is clear.
No proofreading
Everything needs spell checking, but it's particularly important in the design world. When your words are enlarged to the size of a billboard, they'd better be correct. While most design tools will automatically check for errors, they should still pass through a few layers of human eyes. After all, no software can catch everything, especially subtle errors like "your" versus "you're."
Clutter
When in doubt, take things out. Most designs can be kept simple, after all. Don't try and put everything into the graphics you create. When you're working with a lot of information, you need to keep it organized, and use negative space to keep things clean.
Pointless effects
This is related to clutter, but just because you can do a thing doesn't mean you should do a thing. Alliemarie Design even singles out the drop shadow and gradients as bad ideas, a very 90's-looking attempt to make your design 3D, in an era where the modern design aesthetic emphasizes clean simplicity.
Stretched logos and graphics
Another tip: Never stretch your text elements, either horizontally or vertically. If you need to change the size, ensure proportions stay even. The same rule applies to logos and graphics. Companies sink millions of dollars into focus-testing and designing their logos, and don't take kindly to them being altered, even unintentionally. So, be sure that every logo is represented faithfully, and isn't warped or stretched.
Overused stock images
Here’s a truth: If you think a stock image is really good, other people probably think so, too. If an image is available to everyone, there could be plenty of other popular media out there using it, making your work unoriginal. If possible, try to get your own photos, or at least image search pictures you want to use to see how often they've appeared across the web.
Learn More (and get a Career) at Centennial College
In Centennial College’s Graphic Design diploma program, we’ll teach to you to avoid these pitfalls, and more, while becoming adaptable and flexible. With a strong foundation of transferable skills, you’ll be prepared for a wide range of graphic design jobs. This three-year program focuses on equipping you with a broad set of digital and artistic skills, staying current with graphic design trends, including recent tech and art innovations, along with the business and networking skills to launch that graphic design career you want. So, not only will you avoid making these rookie mistakes, you’ll also know exactly how to make your designs stand out!
By: Anthony Geremia