Whether you’re doing Graphic Design for your business, your website, or for a friend, there are six ways to insure that whatever you design will appeal to your audience. These same rules apply to mail pieces, company stationary, websites and other promotional materials.

One thing should dominate your page.
The first thing you notice about something that’s designed well should be a large graphic or block of text that captures your attention right away. Try to pick the most important headline or picture and emphasize it, then scale other items on the page smaller in relation. If you have place a starburst or similar graphic to for a special promotion, be careful where you place it and how much attention you draw to it visually. A good rule of thumb is that if you try to emphasize everything on the page, the eyes gets lost among the scramble of elements and nothing is emphasized.

Minimize your selection of typefaces.
I know that you’re tempted to use every wacky and wild font you have on your pc, but too many fonts clutters up the page. Extremely decorative fonts should only be used for large headlines. Keep your headlines big and bold and your body copy easy to read. For a printed piece, you should limit yourself to a maximum of three typefaces. For webpages, I’d suggest no more than two.

Don’t be afraid of negative space.
White space on your page, or areas of solid color, help the eye scan the page easier and give your graphics and copy “room to breath.” Don’t feel compelled to fill every inch of your page with graphics, borders, etc. Think geometrically and try to arrange the “shapes” with a good amount of white space between them. If you’re really creative, you can even incorporate this negative space into your design by leaving large areas blank to draw more attention to your selling points.

Keep the body copy easy to read.
Even if your headlines are your selling point, people still have to read the features you’re offering. Stick with an easily readable font like Arial or Times and try not to squeeze too much copy into a small space. Keep your font size around 10 – 12 pts unless you’re adding a disclaimer or some sort of caption; even then you shouldn’t go below 8 pts if you want it to be easy to read. Try to break up large bodies of copy with bullet points or subheadings. It also helps to keep your paragraphs short and space between them so that readers can scan the information quickly. Nobody wants to read War and Peace in your ad copy, keep it simple and effective.

Use illustrations that are relevant to what you’re selling.
Graphics are meant to draw attention to your message or to dramatize it; just like writing copy, stay on topic and think about “the point” you’re trying to make with your illustrations. You may have a great stock photo of a baseball player, but it’s not a good graphic for a brochure about the dangers of steroids unless you want people to chuckle every time they see it.

If you have a logo, make it clear and visible and follow up with a strong call-to-action.
Once you’ve drawn readers’ attention to your information, you have to let them know who’s offering the product and where to get it. You don’t need an oversized logo and contact information, but make sure you place these items on the page where they’re easily found. Your reader should be able to spot the company’s logo and address within a second or two of looking for it. If it takes longer than that, they’ll be less inclined to contact you and it could cost you a sale.