We love our work, right? Helping other people with something we are passionate about and are good at! Great! But, working as a graphic designer means you must have your wits about you otherwise you can get into some sticky and fairly costly situations. I have written a list of 5 things that graphic designers should avoid. Some are mistakes I have made and some are just down right stupid – but it happens! Keep reading my blog post if you want to be an efficient graphic designer without breaking the law.

Numero Uno – Copyright

Never steal images without permission

Okay, you have a client who needs a website finished by this evening and you’re running a bit behind. You need to find an image of a lama wearing a hat. Not any old hat though, a fez. You quickly in a blind panic turn to google and borrow one of there and stick it on your clients website. Done. 

No. Well, you could be done if the owner of the image finds their image on someone else’s website. The fact is is that the owner of that image had spent a lot of money creating that work and you can come along and take it for nothing. I have heard of stories of a graphic design firm stealing a $10 image off google and sticking it on their client’s website only to be fined a whopping $4000!

There’s an easy way to avoid this, do not use images of google unless you have the owner’s permission to use it. Otherwise use the images below where you can acquire images for you to use anywhere.

www.istockphoto.com
www.sxc.hu
www.gettyimages.com
www.shutterstock.com

Another great way of gathering images is using Flickr’s new feature to filter out images that you cannot use for commercial purposes or can modify with creative commons.

www.flickr.com

If you do ever need an image of a lama with a fez on… go to www.sxc.hu where you can find the images used above.

Number 2 – Vector Logos

Always design logos in the vector format

What is a vector logo?

A vector is an image which can be resized to as big as you like without getting blurry or pixelate. Turn that image into a logo and that is a vector logo.

If you go to a graphic designer for a logo, you want a logo design that you can use anywhere. That is not possible if the logo you are provided is not a vector, this means the logo cannot be stretch when needed, for example on the side of a billboard.

If you’re trying to find a graphic designer, ask if they design their logos in a vector format and if they say no – you are better off going to a graphic designer who does as it will only save money and energy later on.

Number 3 – RGB / CMYK

Always remember to set the mode to RGB or CYMK

What on earth is RGB and CMYK?

RGB and CMYK are acronyms. RGB is Red, Green & Blue and CMYK Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black – sort of acronym really.

creativity103.com

Your printer does not contain every shade of every color possible and and so it it uses only four colours which can be mixed together to create a large number of other colours. Your screen contains little things called pixels, there are three types of pixel, red, green and blue. These pixels adjust their brightness to create every other colour you could think of as red green and blue are the three primary colours.

So where’s the problem?

This is something I use to do quite often however I have tamed myself out of it now. In software such as Photoshop, you can change which mode you work in, either CMYK or RGB. RGB for screen work and CMYK for print work. As you can guess, the easy mistake to make is forgetting to keep changing modes! School boy mistake but one which can cost.

Number 4 – Your Portfolio

Honestly couldn't think of any other image.

I am going to say the message as soon as I can so you even if you don’t read this paragraph, you get the message:

DO NOT PLACE YOUR LOGO OR ADVERTS IN YOUR PORTFOLIO!

I have seen all too many graphic designers put their own logo and adverts into their portfolio. I can understand that your portfolio may be looking a little empty but don’t place your adverts or logo in your portfolio as it makes potential clients think your struggling to find work and appear to be not very good. A good idea would be to make up briefs if you have to in order to beef your portfolio up.

Number 5 – Using Comic Sans

Avoid using Comic Sans. 

*Sighs*

 

Comic Sans is just one of those fonts that have been used too much and now is seen to be “disgusting” within the graphic design community.

I remember comic sans from a school newsletter I use to get – every week I sighed that it was still being used. Try it for yourself – look at the image on the left.

What mistakes have you made which you wouldn’t want any one else to make?

What is the funniest mistake you have ever done?

As a customer, what’s the worst mistake a graphic designer you have used has made?