10 Tips for Designing Effective Visual Communication

Without good design, even the best, most compelling story is lost. Follow these design best practices to ensure that your visual communication is both beautiful and effective.

1. Colour

Use no more than five colours in a single layout. Colour should be used sparingly to highlight important information.

2. Typography

All fonts should be legible and appropriate for the communication style.

3. Layout

Present content in a way that guides readers through in a logical hierarchy.

Aligning the elements in a layout with each other will help maintain consistency.

4. Callouts

Use callouts sparingly to highlight only key information.

5. Space

Keep significant negative space. When too much information is in a layout, messaging becomes cluttered and incoherent.

6. Illustration

Illustration should match tone and subject matter. Only include if it enhances the content.

7. Iconography

Icons should be simple, easy to understand and universal; they’re meant to enhance comprehension, never distract.

8. Proportion

The eye can be deceiving; make sure items are appropriately sized in data visualizations so as not to skew data.

9. Data

Don’t overwhelm the reader with multiple graphs of single data points when one combined will suffice.

10. Simplicity

Avoid unnecessary design, including 3D charts, ornamental illustration or extraneous elements.