Graphic design projects can include infographics, presentations, social media graphics, research posters, websites and much more. Check out the tabs below for free resources and tools to enhance your designs!
Planning is key to creating a successful design project.
Not only do you need to plan the content (what is the message? who is your audience?), but you also need to plan the visual look of the project.
Trying drawing thumbnail sketches of your layout- it doesn't need to be pretty at this point!
Design with your audience, purpose and key message in mind.
Include white-space in your layout to avoid overwhelming your audience
Keep it consistent. Choose a color scheme and fonts; stick to 2-3 throughout the design
Make it visual with icons, graphs, charts, and high-resolution images.
Ensure your designs are accessible, especially when it comes to color contrast.
Templates are a great starting point but edit them to work for you. Be creative!
When you are finished and ready to share, remember to export your project in the proper format.
File Format |
Features |
Use for... |
Don't use for... |
| JPG | Raster; lossy compression (small file sizes but loses quality) | Photos and artwork- online and printed | Transparent web graphics |
| PNG |
Raster; lossless compression; allows transparent background |
High quality transparent web graphics, such as logos, charts and icons | Photos |
| GIF |
Raster; lossy compression, small files, limited colors |
Animated web graphics | Printed graphics |
| TIFF |
Raster; very large files, uncompressed, detailed image data |
High quality print graphics, high quality scans | Web graphics |
| Vector; preserves formatting | Printing, displaying web documents | Editing designs |