Graphic Design Tips

Just like cuisine in fine dining, presentation is half of the artistic equation when it comes to showing off your item designs. Polish up your graphic design skills to showcase your artwork in the best possible light.

Grids And Margins

🚩 Let's start off with the rule of thirds. This is a photography principle in which the subject of your frame is positioned offset from the focal point of the entire composition.

When creating a post, start with a basic grid; some margins will be enough to get going. In a Concept or Ideas submission, there are usually 3 main pieces of info that you want to show:

• Item Artwork
• Item Name
• Your @ signature

In this piece of art, you can see that the main avatar on display draws your gaze just a bit to the left, allowing the rest of the item details to breathe on the right. Let's keep this in mind for framing decisions as we move forward!

In the example below, notice that when we put the info too close to the edges, its like it's shy, and wants to run away!

So let's create some margins and put my info inside. Now, its more centered; your eyes see it immediately; and it seem more important. Theres a focus to the information that wasn’t there before.

Frames

Many designers like to use a frame to present their piece. If you're using a frame, create another margin inside the frame so the info is not glued to the interior frame.

Let your avatar break the boundaries of the frame to add an element of dynamism. This helps the contents of the image to not look so confined and gives a 3D impression your character is coming out of the image.

Hierarchy

Notice that the bigger and more complex font is just for the title. The other info is in smaller, neutral fonts because their importance is secondary. Avoid mixing different and complex fonts. 1 complex font and 1 neutral font go well together.

• We used an elegant font to promote elegant glasses. If we was promoting a cute kawaii item, we might use a more bubbly cute font.
• Nothing is set in stone! The little cloud used to highlight 'fits avatar head' breaks the margins, touches frame, and is even touching the avatar and signature. As long as its not distracting, it's fine. You can always break your own rules.

Also note that we have a lot of negative space here. Do we need to fill it with something? NO!

Leaving this space empty conveys that elegance and minimalism, which suits the elegant item. BUT, there's no design police! You could use this space to add a close-up of my item.

Composition And Styling

If this is the promo art for glasses, why do I need to show any of the pants and hand items?

Well, we don't need to! Here, we give all focus to the avatar's face. The bag strap is removed as it's unecessary and distracting, but we left the earrings and necklace, as they're stylish and add to the overall look. Many of these decisions are subjective, but they add to the overall presentation. Remember, this particular item's theme word is elegant, so our aesthetic choices should all follow that theme.

Other changes:

• Pose the character to give the image some movement.
• Since zooming in leaves no space for the title anymore, we add the title with a white highlight in the "empty space" of the avatar's hair.
• Since we have less negative space now, let's remove the little cloud.
• Recolor the 'fits avatar head' and signature using colors that were already in the image for extra cohesion
• Make the signature lighter so it looks like its taking less space.
• Opt for a simple make up, no piercings, and a nude color of lipstick so the glasses stand out
• Even tho the hair is covering the frame, we're still respecting the margins we created
• Notice that the glasses – the main point of the image – are near the center of the image, where the most important info should be

Now, let's return to the rule of thirds!

Rule Of Thirds

Where do the eyes want to go first when you look at an image?

When you divide your image into a 9 part grid, where your 3 horizontal and 3 vertical lines meet are the points in the image where your eyes will want to look first. We don't want important stuff too far away from these points.

In this case, we aligned the glasses with these points.

Here's another approach using earrings:

We...

• Posed the character's head in a cute attitude
• Styled the character with an alluring aesthetic (parted lips, contour)
• Chose a hair that doesn't cover the left earring
• Put the earrings in the focal points using the rule of thirds
• Chose a more romantic font
• Chose a name that makes the item type unmistakable
• Used a neutral shirt: since the loops get too close to the shirt, the stripes of the other shirt would be very distracting
• Since the loops are light, use a dark hair to frame them
• Left a little bit of white in the back ground to help the image feel less crowded, less claustrophobic

Take Aways

• We all want to design cute items that others wear and love, but you also want it to SELL!
• You want your item to be funded in Ideas, and your Concepts to win contests. But you need to be able to show them off! Displaying your item in the right way makes a huge difference.
• Take a little bit of extra time to work on the promo art in addition to the item design itself.
• Make the item look special, expensive, and unique. Sell not just the item, but the overall look. Make people think that their outfit is not complete without your item.... but also make sure people understand what the item is.
• Work with contrast, proportion, rule of the thirds and grids/margins. You can break the rules as long as the message still works, but breaking the rules is harder to pull off than following them. If you're not sure how to break them in a nice way, its okay to choose the safest path!
• Dress the avatar with things that will elevate your item, not distract viewers from them.