How to Create Spectacular Digital Designs in Just a Few Hours

Art is one of the few things humans have been consistently doing since the very beginning. Over 40,000 years ago, we were painting the walls of caves. The only thing that has changed since then is the medium.

These days, the art that people experience most tends to be in digital designs. Online newspaper headers, video game wallpapers, and app UX, just to name a few. These eye-catching images are all successful for one simple reason: they follow the principles of successful graphic design.

Lucky for you, those principles are at your disposal just as much as the experts. In this guide, we’ll provide the shortcuts to creating an incredible finished piece in just a few hours.

Settle on a Theme and Structure

Think of a popular graphic design that you see on a regular basis. Apple’s product pages are an excellent example.

They use dead-simple design elements and yet are instantly recognizable. Even without seeing the logo or their product names, it feels like Apple. This is because, from the very beginning, Apple has an established theme and structure.

So, decide with your design team what design elements are most important. Decide on the general aesthetic and focus of the design. Contemplate what feelings viewers should feel.

Make sure all of the elements match up. The fonts should feel like a distant cousin to the icons. Even if these are two entirely different things, customers should be able to identify a common thread.

Get Ideas for Digital Designs From AI Art

AI art is an excellent way to fast-track the creative process without digital tools like Photoshop. With just a sentence, it can create complete, ready-to-go digital art. But what if you don’t want it to do all the work for you?

Fortunately, AI art like that from DALL-E and Midjourney works great for concepts. If you’re not sure where to start, it can help you brainstorm. Type in the words that best describe your project and it will spit out whatever best matches your intended output.

Try to use different adjectives with each iteration. Ask the AI to create art in different styles. Change up your vocab when describing scenery, point of view, and artistic period.

Many professional artists now use these tools for concept development and refinement. It’s an excellent way to speed through the frustration and tedium of brainstorming.

Use Repainting and Other Tools

Another great benefit of AI art is that it can transform your work. If you’d rather not feed it a prompt, feed it your designs instead. Then, you can tell it what you would like it to do.

Many artists do this to take their art in a different direction. For example, expanding a wide page header to see what the AI adds to it. It can often create unexpected–and perhaps game-changing–designs.

Take Time With Fonts

FONTS ARE IMPORTANT. Notice how writing in all caps made you feel? It sounds like the writer is angry, authoritative, or giving a warning.

Just as important as choosing the right case is choosing the right typeset. People laugh at comic sans because it creates a sense of silly levity. Putting it on an official poster could make people chuckle, rather than pay heed to the words there.

Learn the elements of fonts. Understand how people interpret thick fonts, thin fonts, cursive fonts, and everything in between. Collecting crypto art is a great way to see fonts relative to their perceived value.

Having a poorly-implemented font could make or break your art. If you don’t give it its due, it could very well ruin other successful elements on the same page.

Come Back to It Later

One technique that artists use when trying to push out a ton of graphic designs is to variate between them. So, you work on one, drop it, then work on another. Rather than finishing one piece at once, you finish several pieces over a longer period–and increase output.

The reason for this is simple: it helps you see the work with new eyes. The longer you work on a piece, the more desensitized you get. It becomes impossible for you to appraise it from an objective view.

So, work on one piece for an hour. Set it aside and work on something else. When you return to it an hour or two later, you may notice things you didn’t before.

Plus, you avoid the fatigue that’s slowing you down. If your intention is to push out designs at a rapid pace, then getting tired on a single piece will be a serious detriment. Break things up to increase your output.

Get Feedback

Feedback is the most important element. It’s not just for you to improve your technique and ability, though. It also serves as a way to speed up your work.

Feedback is so effective because you are getting a perspective from someone that isn’t you. They have different ideas about the world, different perceptions, and different expectations. There’s a very good chance they will see where the artwork is going wrong and recommend a better direction.

When you’re in a rush, they can quickly disabuse you of a less-than-ideal approach. This gets you back on track to finish your work in record time.

Improve Your Digital Designs Today

In our fast-paced world, graphic designers often have limited time to complete their work. They need a high throughput of digital designs to keep up with their clients’ needs. Remember the above tips to improve your graphic design and creative process.

Follow our blog for more ways to improve your digital art.

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