What are some design tricks you use?
Merve Tarayıcı
13 replies
When designing, I try to follow the rule of thirds to create a balanced composition. I also like to use a limited color palette to create a cohesive and visually appealing design. Another trick I use is to add white space to give the design breathing room and make it easier to read.
What design tricks do you use? Do you have any tips to share?
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Blake Whittington 👾@blake_whittington
Hey @mervetarayici thanks for sharing, especially the limited color palette tip. Finding inspiration on portfolio websites (Dribble | https://dribbble.com/tags/inspir...) before & during a project is also very helpful.
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Keep it simple initially. Adjust UI to the stage of the product you are testing and try to hold yourself off making it high-fidelity on day one. I used to practice overengineering which was a waste of time and an additional information load for the end user.
Spend a bit extra time setting up the layout (base) for whatever you are designing, otherwise, the design will start soon to crumble the more iterations on it are required. I'm a self-taught designer, so it was a recently learn lesson that cost me hundreds of hours.
Between
I use HSL instead of RGB, it helps me pick colors a lot better.
When you use RGB, colors that look very visually similar have almost nothing in common. HSL fixes that.
With the Hue value, you can define the exact color you want with the color wheel, and then play around with the saturation (the vividness of the color) and lightness (how light or dark it is).
But it's easier to play with it vs explain it, so just switch to HSL on Figma and you'll see what I mean!
I've found that keeping the end-user in mind throughout the design process helps me create solutions that are not only pleasing but also functional.
If you have any other design tricks that you've found to be effective, I'd love to hear about them!
Timesheet by Technuf
Do not combine more than 3 fonts on one image banner. This is something I am following on daily basis working with various designs - from website banners to social media posts and offline marketing materials.
Definitely, best to design having the visual brand guidelines in place.
Symmetry mostly
But now I'm seriously considering using ChatGPT
I use Gamma AI, Pitch, and Figma for the initial designs.
Any screenshots or prototypes can be levelled up on Framer.
Weavely
I routinely use https://www.figma.com/community/... to not have to start from scratch when I need to design totally new screens/flows. Great way to easily piggyback off of existing designs/flows for new projects :)
Plugin isn't mine FYI
Momentum Page
Sometimes ask Chatgpt about ideas :)
I always start with a color palette and inspiration. Pinterest is still my main inspiration point for gathering images and color schemes. Instagram has also become a great resource for searching for inspiration as well.
Great question Merve! The rule of thirds is a great one, and I try to leverage it when it's a fit for the design I'm working on.
Playing with golden ratios and basic geometric shapes to convey ideas has been helpful for me as well (our logo makes use of this a good bit).
I also like to play with lens blurs to drop visual elements in the background, and judicious use of the occasional bright accent color (bright green for us) to make certain elements pop into the foreground.
I hope it comes together in our designs while still maintaining a somewhat clean, minimalist aesthetic!
