When creating a design for a business, it is important to follow a few general practices. This allows the overall design to be coherent and seamless.

The Golden Ratio

One of the best practices to follow in creating graphic material is following The Golden Ratio, defined by Adobe as the proportion between two numbers that approximates to 1.618. This ratio is seen in many forms of design and often leads to aesthetically pleasing ratios and spacing around the page.

This image from InVision showcases the Golden Ratio in the design of a rose.

The Golden Ratio is a valuable asset to designers because it allows for a sense of seamless proportion in a work.

Creating Balance

Another best practice for creating design and collateral material is incorporating the aspects of balance and harmony into work. These aspects allow for another layer to seamless design and often leave the viewer feeling pleased after viewing the design.

Balance is important in design because too many items on a page can create headache and sensory overload in viewers. Finding the perfect balance in collateral material can be achieved using proportions such as margins, grids, and the Golden Ratio.

This image from InVision shows both asymmetrical and symmetrical balance in design.

Putting it All Together

Using these best practices in design can lead to seamlessness between elements of design and collateral material. Below, I have linked some of my collateral material that I have recently worked on.

Here is a Letterhead I created as collateral material.

In the Letterhead, I used the same dark blue color found in the Islanders logo to outline the margins of the page. I made sure to use balance to make these margins symmetrical, leaving a generous amount of negative space in the middle to include the text.

Here is a screenshot of the front of the business card I created as collateral material.

This business card is minimalistic in the way that it only showcases the Islanders logo. This was intentional to provide an important amount of negative space in the design because the colors on the logo may be too extreme if put all over the card.

This is a screenshot of a design of an envelope I made as collateral material.

In the envelope, I used margins to create a sense of balance. I also incorporated the same color swatches from the logo in the margins to create seamlessness between the collateral material I created.