Do Good Design

I hear from a lot of people who need to design their websites themselves because they can’t afford a designer. Now I’ve said it before: if you’re going to Do-It-Yourself on your website, you’ll be investing an enormous amount of time and effort if you want to have a successful website, and frankly, you’d save that many times over in hiring a good web designer.

But it never hurts to learn, so I’ve thought about which resources I’ve found to be the most helpful, the best value for money. Without a doubt, the best one is The Non-Designer’s Design Book by Robin Williams.

4 key design principles

Robin explains that there are 4 basic elements to a good-looking, polished design:

1. Contrast
2. Repetition
3. Alignment
4. Proximity

Which creates a memorable acronym. Handy.

I’ll talk more in detail about each of these principles in another article, but wanted to mention this book if you’re looking for more in-depth training on how to design well.

Putting what you learn into practice

The great thing about this book is that it’s full of exercises to make sure you really understand what you’re learning. All too often, I read a slick book and am impressed with everything it says — but I don’t actually remember anything from it.

That’s where having to do a bit of homework is useful, because it gets your brain working. The book also contains plenty of examples of good and bad design so you can really start to understand the differences.

If you can master these 4 elements, then you’ve got 80% of visual design taken care of.

You’ll also be able to apply these principles to any business cards, leaflefts or brochures you need to design for your business, which can save you more money.

Of all the design books on my shelf, The Non-Designer’s Design Book is by far the best. See if your library has it, or find out more about it on Amazon: