With the current "Economic Down-turn" being what it is, you are probably looking for inexpensive ways to get your marketing done. Yet one of the things you find you no longer have a budget for is outsourcing to graphic artists. So what do you do? Well the answer, all be it obvious, may also be just as intimidating. Do your own graphic art?!? If you stick to the basics this could be accomplished with minimal artistic talent on your part. When I say stick with the basics, I mean choosing marketing pieces such as business cards, brochures and fliers. If tackling your own design work is not something you would normally do, these projects will serve as great confidence builders. In this article I'll walk you, the non-designer through the foundational first step to good design.

When starting a new project always put your thoughts down on paper. Scribble little notes and sketch pictures so you can see what those ideas may look like. I know you're probably saying, "but I can't draw". Excuse me for saying so but that's BS! As long as you can draw a circle, square and triangle you have all the skill you need. You don't need to be a gifted artist to design. It's important to see the shapes and sizes of the elements that will compose your project. Sketch out your ideas in shapes proportioned to your finished creation. If its a business card design, draw little business card shaped rectangles. You'd be surprised how many cool concepts you'll come up with once you get the juices flowing.

Congratulations, you are now creating thumbnails. Thumbnails are like graphic design shorthand. And as the name implies, they should be little bite sized sketches not too much larger than your thumbnail. Sketch as many of these as you can and take only a few moments to create each one. Now let me warn you, it is possible to come up with a design that's difficult and expensive to print, but don't worry about that now. Just have fun. I'll share some print friendly design tips in a future article. Once you have some basic ideas down you can start to think about color combinations, font styles, etc. Use the design examples you find online for guidance and inspiration and while you're at it, check out my portfolio. Just about everything you see on the web and off started with a process similar to what I'm sharing here.

At this point you should have a number of thumbnails down on paper, some ideas about your colors and maybe a few font styles in mind. This my friends, is the beginnings of a good design piece. It's not rocket science, but it is a deliberate process from start to finish, even thou it can get chaotic when deadlines draw near. In future articles I'll be taking you deeper into the creative processes of graphic design. Until then, I'll leave you with this, someone said, “doctors, astronauts, and plumbers need training to do their jobs, but anyone with a copy of Publisher is a graphic designer.” That may seem humorous to some and as a designer myself I admit that it got a chuckle out of me, but as a business man I understand that when times get tough you gotta do what you gotta do to survive. And if that means putting the designer's cap on top of all the other hats you're wearing go for it. I'm here for ya.

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